Luis Walter Alvarez
Physicist who proposed why the dinosaurs went extinct.
Their Story
Luis Walter Alvarez was a physicist who worked on many projects, from particle physics to inventions. With his son, a geologist, he proposed that a giant asteroid impact helped cause the extinction of the dinosaurs. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on subatomic particles.
Era
1900s
Field
Physics
Luis Walter Alvarez
Physicist who proposed why the dinosaurs went extinct.
Science · Physics · 1900s · Latino/Hispanic Heritage
Their Story
Luis Walter Alvarez was a physicist who worked on many projects, from particle physics to inventions. With his son, a geologist, he proposed that a giant asteroid impact helped cause the extinction of the dinosaurs. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on subatomic particles.
Key Innovation
Co-proposed the asteroid impact theory for the dinosaur extinction and advanced experimental physics.
Why It Matters Today
His asteroid theory shapes how scientists study mass extinctions and the risks from space objects today.
Learn More
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Walter_Alvarez
Wilkinson STEM Education Foundation · 251 American Innovators · wilkinsonstemfoundation.org
