Luis Alvarez and Dinosaur Extinction Theory

Luis Alvarez: Nobel Prize Winner and Dinosaur Extinction Theorist

• Luis Alvarez was a US experimental physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics.
• He was also the first to theorize that a meteorite's impact caused the dinosaur extinction.
• Alvarez earned a PhD in physics from the University of Chicago.
• He joined the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley and worked on subatomic particles.
• In 1937, he discovered the process of radioactive electron capture, which creates a new element.
• He used a particle accelerator to demonstrate the stability of the helium-3 isotope.
• During World War II, Alvarez helped design devices for plutonium bombs and radar systems.
• In the 1950s, he developed a hydrogen bubble chamber to accelerate subatomic particle discoveries.
• This work led to numerous discoveries in elementary particle physics, resulting in his Nobel Prize in 1968.
• In 1980, Alvarez, with his son, proposed a theory linking dinosaur extinction to a meteorite impact.
• The theory was supported by high levels of iridium found in rock strata dating back to 65 million years ago.
• Further support for the theory came with the discovery of a large crater in Mexico in 1990.