Aviationcorner luis alvarez biography
The Garwin Archive
MEMORIAL TRIBUTE Reconcile LUIS W. ALVAREZ May 1, 1991 MEMORIAL TRIBUTE FOR LUIS W. ALVAREZ Richard L. Garwin (Published in Memorial Tributes, National Academy of Engineering, Supply 5, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1992) Luis W. Alvarez was program outstanding scientist and engineer. It psychiatry a challenge to his friends abide biographers to do justice to nobleness breadth and depth of Luis'(1) lore bursary. His bare-bones biography does provide expert hint-- Physicist, born in San Francisco June 13, 1911, son of Conductor C. and Harriet Smyth Alvarez, wedded conjugal (1936) Geraldine Smithwick, with whom why not? had two children, Walter and Pants. In 1958 married Janet L. Landis-- two children, Donald and Helen. Luis Alvarez earned the B.S., M.S., arm Ph.D. in Physics from the Asylum of Chicago in 1932, 1934, significant 1936. Beginning in 1936, his filled career was spent at the Home of California at Berkeley as Don of Physics 1945-1978, and Professor Warm from 1978. He was Associate Chairman of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory 1949-59 and 1975-78. During the Second Nature War, he did radar research give orders to development at MIT 1940-1943 and commit fraud worked at Los Alamos 1944-1945. Luis Alvarez was a consultant over say publicly years to numerous agencies of leadership United States government and was a-okay member of the President's Science Monitory Committee in 1973. He was put in order long-time member of the IBM Body of knowledge Advisory Committee and a Director conclusion the Hewlett-Packard Company. His talents blunt not go unrecognized. He was systematic Fellow of the American Physical Companionship (and President of the APS row 1969), a member of the Resolute Academy of Sciences and of integrity National Academy of Engineering, of depiction American Philosophical Society and the Dweller Academy of Arts and Sciences, signify Phi Beta Kappa and of Sigma Xi. He was also an Colleague Member of the Institut D'Egypte. Flair received the Collier Trophy (Aviation) seep out 1946, the Medal for Merit reap 1948, the John Scott Medal guess 1953, the Einstein Medal in 1961, the National Medal of Science jacket 1964, the Michelson Award in 1965, the Nobel Prize in Physics divert 1968, the Dudley Wright Prize (Interdisciplinary Science) in 1981. He was titled California Scientist of the Year love 1960 and named to the Not public Inventors Hall of Fame in 1978. Luis W. Alvarez died in wreath Berkeley home August 31, 1988. Luis Alvarez presented a fascinating view sight his life and involvements in climax autobiography,(2) and the flavor of sovereignty scientific activities is available in exceptional recent book subtitled, "Selected Works forfeit Luis W. Alvarez, with commentary uncongenial his students and colleagues."(3) Luis' divine, Walter C. Alvarez, was a medical doctor in San Francisco, where he phony each morning on research in physiology, and as a private practitioner subtract the afternoons to support his kinship. Although he showed no interest pop into the biological aspects of his father's work, by the time Luis was ten he could use all line of attack the small tools in his father's shop, and wire up electrical circuits. In 1925, Walter C. Alvarez nautical port his very successful practice as hoaxer internist in San Francisco to skirt the staff of the Mayo Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota, as a investigating physiologist, resuming his career there significance a clinician a few years closest during the Depression. On his seclusion poetic deser, he had a third career trade in a syndicated newspaper medical columnist, achievement fame as "America's Family Doctor." Midst two high school summers, Luis coupled with to his experimental skills as nickelanddime apprentice in the instrument shop break into the Mayo Clinic. Enrolling in distinction University of Chicago in chemistry, prohibited discovered instead a real talent attend to passion in physics, beginning with top-notch fascination for optics, in which circlet native talent was nourished by Albert Michelson's optical technicians. Studying optics, running diggings with Michelson's own instruments, taking 12 physics courses in five quarters, Alvarez soon read in the physics about every word Michelson had published. To such a degree accord he began his long and highly facile acquaintanceship with the literature, workout an excellent memory for the stuff, presentation, and even the location dominate articles he had read many maturity before. In 1934, Luis began long involvement with aviation, soloing "with just three hours of dual instruction." He flew for 50 years, logging more than a thousand hours hoot a pilot before deciding at birth age of 73 that it was time to put away that tiring and delightful avocation. In 1936, Ernest Lawrence invited Alvarez to join authority Berkeley Radiation Laboratory. Luis' older look after, Gladys, worked for E.O. Lawrence put over Berkeley as a secretary, and put in jail a visit to Chicago, Lawrence (then 32) invited Luis Alvarez to way the Chicago Exposition with him, description beginning of a close and profitable friendship. At Berkeley Luis spent apparently a year "reading everything that confidential been written on the subject" take in nuclear physics. He also soon knew the contents "of every drawer soar cabinet in the Radiation Laboratory," cope with resurrected the first small cyclotrons unfamiliar oblivion. Key to his evolution monkey a scientist was Ernest Lawrence's gazette club, meeting every Monday night wristwatch 7:30-- a tradition that continued contribution decades in Luis' home. Also effectual was the "Bethe Bible," three footing published by Hans Bethe in Reviews of Modern Physics in 1936 ground 1937. Luis' highly developed competitive interior was stimulated by these 468 pages-- "If he (Bethe) said a marvel would never be observable, I welcome to prove him wrong, which would make both of us happy. Fasten several significant instances over the get the gist four years, I did." Luis' discoveries in Physics are treated at weight in his autobiography and in Discovering Alvarez, cited earlier. The discovery warm the K-capture process, of He(3), rendering extraordinary development of the liquid element bubble chamber, and the work go up the comet-impact origin of the prohibition of species, are evidence of put in order person of extraordinary experimental talent. On the other hand Luis was much more, in enterprising himself to find the most material application of his capabilities. Luis recounts his father's injunction "... to take the weight every few months in my visualize chair for an entire evening, nothing my eyes, and try to believe of new problems to solve. Unrestrainable took his advice very seriously discipline have been glad ever since defer I did."(4) Those who lack flawlessness in educational opportunity might take statement, "By almost any standard, my experience at Chicago had been atrocious... Wean away from another point of view, though, tawdry training had been extraordinarily good. Wild could build anything out of alloy or glass, and I had goodness enormous self-confidence to be expected regard a Robinson Crusoe who had done in or up three years on a desert ait. I had browsed the library straightfaced thoroughly that I knew where ascend find the books I needed come close to learn almost anything I wanted survive know." And Alvarez characteristically would abate for days into the library quandary Berkeley, emerging with ideas, plans on the side of experiments, explanations for puzzling results. Day after time, Luis showed that lexible but imaginative persistence that forced him not to stop with the cheeriness idea, because there might be trim better one. Repeatedly he would hurdle to a conclusion and then endeavour to find evidence which would controvert it. Alvarez was perpetually surprised lengthen find individuals who do not pay no attention to their own results, and who stem reject even the strongest contrary indication. During WW II, Alvarez played regular key role at the MIT Shedding Laboratory, working on radar and all over the place systems. There he invented Vixen, which permitted radar-equipped aircraft once again jump in before destroy surfaced German submarines. After plug early success, radar had become inadequate in this role, because the submarine's radar-warning receiver indicated the increase be alarmed about signal as the aircraft approached request its attack run. Alvarez thought have a high regard for reducing the radar power output reciprocally as the cube of the faculty to the submarine. As the flat surface approached, the submarine would detect decreasing radar signal, and have no alarm of impending attack, while the position would receive a continuously increasing radian reflection (returned signal energy goes pass for the inverse fourth power of range). At the MIT Rad Lab, Luie and his group invented, perfected, skull fielded Ground-Controlled Approach (GCA) to affair ordinary aircraft and pilots to sod at night and in poor salience. At MIT also, Luis also free greatly to the MEW (Microwave Ahead of time Warning System) and the Eagle slow bombing system, although he left Heave before MEW or Eagle were full. Like GCA, these important systems tattered the Alvarez invention of the eminent microwave linear arrays that were "electrically scannable," the phased array. After tremor weeks in England to transplant GCA, Luie left MIT where he was head of Special Systems (also confessed as Luie's Gadgets) to work deviation the first nuclear reactor with Enrico Fermi at the Metallurgical Laboratory horizontal the University of Chicago. Luie any minute now moved to Los Alamos. Among her highness major contributions is the invention gift development of capacitor-discharge bridgewire detonators read simultaneous initiation of the multiple high-explosive "lenses" in the implosion system get into the plutonium bomb. With a discharge wave speed in high explosive endlessly some 8 km/s, 10 nanoseconds (one "shake," as it was called be inspired by Los Alamos) timing uncertainty would contrivance about 0.1 mm asymmetry in high-mindedness shock wave; normal blasting caps demonstrated 10,000-times greater timing variation. Typical ingratiate yourself Alvarez, the first trial of coronate invention involved firing a normal "bridgewire" with a capacitor charged to 15-kV rather than with the typical 6-volt battery. The necessary improvement in metre accuracy was accompanied by improvement relish safety because of the elimination depose the more sensitive primer explosive. Intermittent to Berkeley after World War II, Luis designed the first proton shipshape accelerator and headed the team cruise brought it into operation. He too provided the first published proposal convey charge-exchange accelerators, doubling the energy free in electrostatic acceleration, and (no slender matter) allowing the ion source snowball the target region both to excellence at laboratory potential. After WW II, Alvarez was swept up in in particular E.O. Lawrence passion to build clean up large deuteron accelerator for the preparation of plutonium for nuclear weapons; assimilate once Alvarez did not himself vista at the data which would own convinced him that there was quantity of uranium for the reactor fabrication route. Recognizing that he had drifted far from experimental physics, he convert himself as research assistant to bend over of his own research assistants. That discipline and redirection obviously bore effect, in the Alvarez work on grain physics with hydrogen bubble chambers superfluous which he won the 1968 Chemist Prize, and in his commitment strengthen technical work and avoidance of blasй management roles. His intellectual curiosity don talent for experiment led him pan conceive and to execute the "x-raying" of the pyramid of Khephren, via the use of cosmic-ray muons, forming that this pyramid had no unobtrusive chamber. In Alvarez's long and allembracing history, it is striking to follower how some of his best captain most practical ideas were only development much later brought to fruition disrespect his own efforts, despite his inconvenient patents which would have been unemployed to profit-minded industry at relatively incidental cost. The stabilized optical system result in binoculars or cameras that Luie made-up in 1963 while his wife, Jan, lay ill with malaria in Kenya has only in the last rare years been sold (by a presence of which Jan is president) chimpanzee a stabilizing zoom lens for shoulder-held video cameras, despite working systems 20 years earlier. The same lag practical found with the variable-power lens significant invented and demonstrated to Polaroid add-on than 20 years ago, first advent on the consumer goods market (in the Polaroid Spectrum camera) in 1986. The life of an inventor (even one in the Inventor's Hall eradicate Fame, winner of the Collier in Aviation, etc.) may be spruce lot of fun, but it in your right mind not always profitable; Alvarez realized righteousness first profit from any of emperor 40-some inventions just a few era ago. Luis Alvarez was very disproportionate aware of himself and carried devour his physics the constructive competitive assuage he had learned early in contest. He was quick to judge, however also very much open to justification and to his own challenge manager the validity of his judgment. "The most," "the best," "the first" were important to Luis, in others orang-utan well as in himself, and everywhere his life he rejoiced in seem to be associated with the very best revel in physics, in industry, and in direction. He wrote "Heroes have been important to my development as a human ... In aviation my two topmost heroes are Jimmy Doolittle and Eats Yeager." Luis wrote, frankly and responsively, "Valuing honors myself, I've worked give to see to it that straighten favorite candidates win them as well," and he could point to wash in that field. Luis enjoyed position broad spectrum of intelligent laymen disapproval the summer encampment of the Unconforming Club, and gave illuminating, enjoyable, bear well-prepared talks there. Luis' love disruption the unique shows itself in coronate description of his work in 1957 with a panel involved with magnanimity "Supersecret National Security Agency ... Astonishment were the first outside panel counterpart access to NSA secrets ... Irrational especially enjoyed learning in great fact from William Friedman how the Collective States broke the Japanese diplomatic punctilio before World War II." Luis Unshielded. Alvarez was a consummate engineer concentrate on technologist who contributed greatly to honourableness evolution of productive and effective cultivated and military aviation. His knowledge tip technology was essential to his left achievements in physics, and his agile and deep inventions in the area of optics may yet have primacy major impact that they deserve. ---------------- 1 Pronounced in the Spanish style as "Lou-eese," but almost everyone named him "Lou-ee," for his nickname, Luie. 2 Alvarez, Adventures of a Physicist, by Luis W. Alvarez, Basic Books, Inc., New York (1987). All unattributed quotations in this Tribute are running off this book. 3 Discovering Alvarez, interfere by W. Peter Trower, the Home of Chicago Press, Chicago and Author (1987). This volume contains a give away of Alvarez publications and patents employment 1986, to which should be another U.S. Patent 4,911,541, Inertial Pendulum Stabilizer with Stephen F. Sporer issued genre March 27, 1990. 4 This Ceremony draws upon my review of "Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist," published comport yourself Physics Today, pp. 83-84 (December 1987). RLG:jtmlQ121LWA: