Luis Walter Alvarez

1911 - 1988  (77 years)  Submit Photo / Document

• Name	Luis Walter Alvarez
  Born	13 Jun 1911	San Francisco, San Francisco, California
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	1936
  	Louis was a Physicist. He worked on the Manhattan Project and a number of different RADAR systems. In 1968 he earned the Nobel Prize for particle Physics. He was never one to limit his interests. He used the detection of cosmic rays to search the Egyptian pyramids for hidden rooms and performed analysis of the Zapruder film that captured the assassination of President Kennedy.
  		Luis Alvarez Physics. Luis Alvarez Physics.
  Military Service	1945	U.S. Army Air Corps, WWII
  	Alvarez worked on the Manhattan project that developed the nuclear bomb He was given the rank of Lieutenant Colonel so that he could fly aboard military air craft to make scientific observations.
  		L. W. Alvarez Report of Trinity Atomic Explosion. L. W. Alvarez Report of Trinity Atomic Explosion.
  		The Great Artiste Luis W. Alvarez observed the Trinity nuclear test from a B-29 Superfortress. A propeller-driven heavy bomber. Louis is seen here standing in front of the B-29 "The Great Artiste". Flying in The Great Artiste in formation with the Enola Gay, Alvarez measured the blast effect of the Little Boy bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima.
  Biographical Information	1980
  	Working with his son, William, Louis changed the world of paleontology. They discovered that the layer of sediment located all over the world, that separates the Cretaceous period of Earth's history, from the Paleogene period contained a very high concentration of Iridium. Iridium is an element that is quite rare on Earth but common in asteroids. He published the "Alvarez hypothesis" suggesting that the end of the dinosaurs resulted from a massive asteroid impact.
  		Louis and Walter Alvarez. Louis and Walter Alvarez examine the K-T boundary. (Now referred to as the K-Pg boundary) By any name the boundary is a layer of sediment below which is is possible to find dinosaur fossils but, after the sediment was deposited the dinosaurs were gone.
  		Chicxulub crater. In March 2010, an international panel of scientists endorsed the Alvarez hypothesis. They specified that the Chicxulub crater discovered in 1978 was the specific event that caused the extinction. After some 66 million years the 93 mile wide crater is no longer visible. However gravitational anomalies and geological evidence prove it's existence. the energy release of the Chicxulub impact was approximately 100 million megatons. The largest bomb ever tested yielded about 50 megatons. It is an event that radically reshaped life on Earth.
  		Bone Wars (19) The "Bone Wars" of the 1870's and other significant paleontologist in this tree.
  Died	1 Sep 1988	Berkeley, Alameda, California
  		Luis Walter Alvarez Obituary. The Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Friday, September 2, 1988. Page 6 section B.
  Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
  Person ID	I57549	Nagel
  Last Modified	14 Mar 2021

  
  

  Father	Walter Clement Alvarez,   b. 22 Jul 1884, San Francisco, San Francisco, California ,   d. 17 Jun 1978, San Francisco, San Francisco, California  (Age 93 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Mother	Harriet Skidmore Smyth,   b. 19 Jan 1885, Fuzhou, Fuzhou Shixiaqu, Fuzhou, Fujian, China ,   d. 9 Jul 1973, Chicago, Cook, Illinois  (Age 88 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Married	22 Feb 1907	Berkeley, Alameda, California
  Family ID	F16955	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Geraldine Smithwick,   b. 1913
  Children	1. Walter Alvarez  [Birth]
  Last Modified	12 Mar 2021
  Family ID	F16956	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map		Born - 13 Jun 1911 - San Francisco, San Francisco, California Died - 1 Sep 1988 - Berkeley, Alameda, California  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Photos		Luis Walter Alvarez. Luis Walter Alvarez.
  		Dinosaur Extinction. In 1980 Physicist Luis Walter Alvarez working with his son Walter postulated the Alvarez Hypothesis that proposed the dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid that impacted Earth. Since that time more and more evidence has been uncovered that supports his idea.