10 Facts about Luis Walter Alvarez

Post On: March 25, 2017
By: Agustina

A professor who earned a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1968 is explained on Facts about Luis Walter Alvarez. He was a prominent figure in the field of physics.  People recognize him as a professor, inventor and physics from United States. He was born on 13th June 1911 and died on 1st September 1988. He contributed to the field of physics in 20th century. There is no need to wonder that his name was cited as one of the productive experimental physicists according to the American Journal of Physics.

Facts about Luis Walter Alvarez 1: the PhD degree

In 1936, Alvarez was awarded with a PhD degree from University of Chicago.

Facts about Luis Walter Alvarez 2: the job

Alvarez worked for University of California in Berkeley at Radiation Laboratory under Ernest Lawrence.

Luis Walter Alvarez Facts

Luis Walter Alvarez Facts

Facts about Luis Walter Alvarez 3: tritium

Alvarez used cyclotron to generate tritium. The magnetic moment of neutron was also measured on the experiment of Alvarez and Felix Bloch.



Facts about Luis Walter Alvarez 4: MIT Radiation Laboratory

The contribution of Alvarez was also seen during the Second World War when he entered MIT Radiation Laboratory in 1940. He was involved in several radar projects. He played a key part for the development of IFF radar, VIXEN and microwave radars.

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Facts about Luis Walter Alvarez 5: GCA

GCA stands for Ground Controlled Approach. It was considered as the most important radar system developed by Alvarez. It has been employed in the aviation field.

Luis Walter Alvarez

Luis Walter Alvarez

Facts about Luis Walter Alvarez 6: the next project

Alvarez worked on nuclear reactors for a couple months at University of Chicago. Then he moved to Los Alamos to take part in Manhattan project under Robert Oppenheimer. He developed the exploding bridge-wire detonators and explosive lenses design.

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Facts about Luis Walter Alvarez 7: during the Second World War

Alvarez was a member of Project Alberta. He observed the B-29 the Great Artiste during the Hiroshima bombing.

Facts about Luis Walter Alvarez 8: his son

Walter Alvarez was the son of Luis. Both worked together to create a hypothesis that an asteroid impact wiped out all dinosaurs on earth.

Facts about Luis Walter Alvarez

Facts about Luis Walter Alvarez

Facts about Luis Walter Alvarez 9: death

On 1 September 1988, Alvarez died because of complications. The Bancroft Library located at University of California, Berkeley has his papers.

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Facts about Luis Walter Alvarez 10: awards and honors

In 1987, the US Department of Energy gave him an Enrico Fermi award. In 1947, he earned Medal for Merit. In 1988, he was honored with IEEE Honorary Membership.

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