Luis Walter Alvarez
Luis Walter Alvarez
Luis Walter Alvarezwas an American experimental physicist, inventor, and professor who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1968. The American Journal of Physics commented, "Luis Alvarez was one of the most brilliant and productive experimental physicists of the twentieth century."...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPhysicist
Date of Birth13 June 1911
CountryUnited States of America
reading book science
Dirac politely refused Robert's [Robert Oppenheimer] two proffered books: reading books, the Cambridge theoretician announced gravely, "interfered with thought."
dream hero two
Most of us who become experimental physicists do so for two reasons; we love the tools of physics because to us they have intrinsic beauty, and we dream of finding new secrets of nature as important and as exciting as those uncovered by our scientific heroes. But we walk a narrow path with pitfalls on either side. If we spend all our time developing equipment, we risk the appellation of "plumber," and if we merely use the tools developed by others, we risk the censure of our peers for being parasitic.
war believe optimistic
The last few centuries have seen the world freed from several scourges-slavery, for example; death by torture for heretics; and, most recently, smallpox. I am optimistic enough to believe that the next scourge to disappear will be large-scale warfare-killed by the existence and nonuse of nuclear weapons.
guy democracy opinion
There is no democracy in physics. We can't say that some second-rate guy has as much right to opinion as Fermi.
jobs thinking healthy
I'm convinced that a controlled disrespect for authority is essential to a scientist. All the good experimental physicists I have known have had an intense curiosity that no Keep Out sign could mute. Physicists do, of course, show a healthy respect for High Voltage, Radiation, and Liquid Hydrogen signs. They are not reckless. I can think of only six who have been killed on the job.
scientist stamps very-good
I don't like to say bad things about paleontologists, but they're not very good scientists. They're more like stamp collectors.
father reading eye
[My father] advised me to sit every few months in my reading chair for an entire evening, close my eyes and try to think of new problems to solve. I took his advice very seriously and have been glad ever since that he did.
asked ball invites knocked nobody president weak
If the president of the college had asked me what I thought about Dewey McLean, I'd say he's a weak sister. I thought he'd been knocked out of the ball game and had just disappeared, because nobody invites him to conferences anymore.
particles received
When I received my B. S. degree in 1932, only two of the fundamental particles of physics were known.
came earliest work
Janet Landis came to work in my group in the summer of 1957 when our first bubble-chamber was churning out its earliest pictures.
attending came nobel opportunity unusual war
Because Ernest Lawrence's award came in the war years, I had the unusual opportunity of attending his Nobel Prize presentation ceremony.
cooperation lawrence physicists radiation
At the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, we have long had a tradition of close cooperation between physicists and technicians.