Luis Walter Alvarez

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This article is about the American physicist. For his grandfather, the Spanish physician, see
Luis F. Alvarez. For other people of the same name, see Luis Álvarez (disambiguation)
.

Luis Walter Alvarez
San Francisco, California, U.S.
DiedSeptember 1, 1988(1988-09-01) (aged 77)
Berkeley, California, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Chicago (BS, MS, PhD)
Known for
Spouses
Geraldine Smithwick
​
​
(m. 1936; div. 1957)​
Janet L. Landis
​
(m. 1958)​
AwardsCollier Trophy (1945)
Medal for Merit (1947)
John Scott Medal (1953)
Albert Einstein Award (1961)
National Medal of Science (1963)
Pioneer Award (1963)
Michelson–Morley Award (1965)
Nobel Prize in Physics (1968)
Enrico Fermi Award (1987)
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Berkeley
Doctoral advisorArthur Compton
Signature

Luis Walter Alvarez (June 13, 1911 – September 1, 1988) was an American

inventor, and professor who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1968 for his discovery of resonance states in particle physics using the hydrogen bubble chamber.[1] In 2007 the American Journal of Physics commented, "Luis Alvarez was one of the most brilliant and productive experimental physicists of the twentieth century."[2]

After receiving his

magnetic moment of the neutron
.

In 1940, Alvarez joined the

bombing of Hiroshima from the B-29 The Great Artiste
.

After the war Alvarez was involved in the design of a liquid hydrogen bubble chamber that allowed his team to take millions of photographs of particle interactions, develop complex computer systems to measure and analyze these interactions, and discover entire families of new particles and resonance states. This work resulted in his being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1968. He was involved in a project to x-ray the Egyptian pyramids to search for unknown chambers. With his son, geologist Walter Alvarez, he developed the Alvarez hypothesis which proposes that the extinction event that wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs was the result of an asteroid impact.

Early life

Luis Walter Alvarez was born into a

Roman Catholic family in San Francisco on June 13, 1911, the second child and oldest son of Walter C. Alvarez, a physician, and his wife Harriet née Smyth, and a grandson of Luis F. Álvarez, a Spanish physician, born in Asturias, Spain, who lived in Cuba for a while and finally settled in the United States, who found a better method for diagnosing macular leprosy. He had an older sister, Gladys, a younger brother, Bob, and a younger sister, Bernice.[3] His aunt, Mabel Alvarez, was a California artist specializing in oil painting.[4]

He attended Madison School in San Francisco from 1918 to 1924, and then

PhD in 1936.[7] As an undergraduate, he belonged to the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. As a postgraduate he moved to Gamma Alpha.[8]

In 1932, as a

graduate student at Chicago, he discovered physics there and had the rare opportunity to use the equipment of legendary physicist Albert A. Michelson.[9] Alvarez also constructed an apparatus of Geiger counter tubes arranged as a cosmic ray telescope, and under the aegis of his faculty advisor Arthur Compton, conducted an experiment in Mexico City to measure the so-called East–West effect of cosmic rays. Observing more incoming radiation from the west, Alvarez concluded that primary cosmic rays were positively charged. Compton submitted the resulting paper to the Physical Review, with Alvarez's name at the top.[10]

Alvarez was an agnostic even though his father had been a deacon in a Congregational church.[11][12]

Early work

Nobel Laureate Arthur Compton, left, with young graduate student Luis Alvarez at the University of Chicago in 1933

Alvarez's sister, Gladys, worked for

Radiation Laboratory. A telegram soon arrived from Gladys with a job offer from Lawrence. This started a long association with the University of California, Berkeley. Alvarez and Smithwick were married in one of the chapels at the University of Chicago and then headed for California.[14] They had two children, Walter and Jean.[15] They were divorced in 1957. On December 28, 1958, he married Janet L. Landis, and had two more children, Donald and Helen.[16]

At the Radiation Laboratory he worked with Lawrence's experimental team, which was supported by a group of theoretical physicists headed by

X-rays coming from K capture. He published his results in the Physical Review in 1937.[18][19]

When

gas wells where it had been for millions of years, the helium-3 component had to be stable. Afterwards Alvarez produced the radioactive tritium using the cyclotron and the 2
H
 + 2
H
 reaction and measured its lifetime.[20][21][22]

In 1938, again using his knowledge of the cyclotron and inventing what are now known as

magnetic moment of the neutron. Their result of μ0 = 1.93±0.02 μN, published in 1940, was a major advance over earlier work.[23]

World War II

Radiation Laboratory

The British

transponders, to a system known as VIXEN for preventing enemy submarines from realizing that they had been found by the new airborne microwave radars.[25] Enemy submarines would wait until the radar signal was getting strong and then submerge, escaping attack. But VIXEN transmitted a radar signal whose strength was the cube of the distance to the submarine so that as they approached the sub, the signal—as measured by the sub—got progressively weaker, and the sub assumed the plane was getting farther away and didn't submerge.[26][27]

One of the first projects was to build equipment to transition from the British long-wave radar to the new microwave centimeter-band radar made possible by the

B-29s were equipped with Eagle and it worked well, it came too late to make much difference.[28]

Harry Truman
, White House, 1946

The radar system for which Alvarez is best known and which has played a major role in aviation, most particularly in the post-war

Ground Controlled Approach (GCA). Using Alvarez's dipole antenna to achieve a very high angular resolution, GCA allows ground-based radar operators to watch special precision displays to guide a landing airplane to the runway by transmitting verbal commands to the pilot. The system was simple, direct, and worked well, even with previously untrained pilots. It was so successful that the military continued to use it for many years after the war, and it was still in use in some countries in the 1980s.[29] Alvarez was awarded the National Aeronautic Association's Collier Trophy in 1945 "for his conspicuous and outstanding initiative in the concept and development of the Ground Control Approach system for safe landing of aircraft under all weather and traffic conditions".[30][31]

Alvarez spent the summer of 1943 in England testing GCA, landing planes returning from battle in bad weather, and also training the British in the use of the system. While there he encountered the young Arthur C. Clarke, who was an RAF radar technician. Clarke subsequently used his experiences at the radar research station as the basis for his novel Glide Path, which contains a thinly disguised version of Alvarez.[32] Clarke and Alvarez developed a long-term friendship.[33]

Manhattan Project

Luis Alvarez's Los Alamos badge

In the fall of 1943, Alvarez returned to the United States with an offer from

intelligence gathering. It would become extremely important after the war.[34]

Wearing a helmet and flak jacket and standing in front of the bomber,The Great Artiste, Tinian island in 1945

As a result of his radar work and the few months spent with Fermi, Alvarez arrived at Los Alamos in the spring of 1944, later than many of his contemporaries. The work on the "

core, a technical challenge at the time.[35]

To create the symmetrical

implosion-type nuclear weapon. He also supervised the RaLa Experiments.[36]
Alvarez later wrote that:

With modern weapons-grade uranium, the background neutron rate is so low that terrorists, if they had such material, would have a good chance of setting off a high-yield explosion simply by dropping one half of the material onto the other half. Most people seem unaware that if separated U-235 is at hand, it's a trivial job to set off a nuclear explosion, whereas if only plutonium is available, making it explode is the most difficult technical job I know.[37]

Alvarez (top right) on Tinian island with Harold Agnew (top left), Lawrence H. Johnston (bottom left) and Bernard Waldman (bottom right)

Again working with Johnston, Alvarez's last task for the

Deak Parsons (who were respectively commissioned at the rank of captain).[38]

Flying in the

Nagasaki explosion.[40]

Bubble chamber

Celebrating winning the Nobel Prize, October 30, 1968. The balloons are inscribed with the names of subatomic particles that his group discovered.

Returning to the University of California, Berkeley as a

full professor, Alvarez had many ideas about how to use his wartime radar knowledge to improve particle accelerators. Though some of these were to bear fruit, the "big idea" of this time would come from Edwin McMillan with his concept of phase stability which led to the synchrocyclotron. Refining and extending this concept, the Lawrence team would build the world's then-largest proton accelerator, the Bevatron, which began operating in 1954. Though the Bevatron could produce copious amounts of interesting particles, particularly in secondary collisions, these complex interactions were hard to detect and analyze at the time.[41]

Seizing upon a new development to visualize particle tracks, created by Donald Glaser and known as a bubble chamber, Alvarez realized the device was just what was needed, if only it could be made to function with liquid hydrogen. Hydrogen nuclei, which are protons, made the simplest and most desirable target for interactions with the particles produced by the Bevatron. He began a development program to build a series of small chambers, and championed the device to Ernest Lawrence.[42]

The Glaser device was a small glass cylinder (1 cm × 2 cm) filled with

superheated state, which would boil along the disturbed track of a particle passing through. Glaser was able to maintain the superheated state for a few seconds before spontaneous boiling took place. The Alvarez team built chambers of 1.5 in, 2.5 in, 4 in, 10 in, and 15 in using liquid hydrogen, and constructed of metal with glass windows, so that the tracks could be photographed. The chamber could be cycled in synchronization with the accelerator beam, a picture could be taken, and the chamber recompressed in time for the next beam cycle.[43]

This program built a liquid hydrogen bubble chamber almost 7 feet (2.1 meters) long, employed dozens of physicists and graduate students together with hundreds of engineers and technicians, took millions of photographs of particle interactions, developed computer systems to measure and analyze the interactions, and discovered families of new particles and resonance states. This work resulted in the Nobel Prize in Physics for Alvarez in 1968,[44] "For his decisive contributions to elementary particle physics, in particular the discovery of a large number of resonant states, made possible through his development of the technique of using hydrogen bubble chambers and data analysis."[45]

Scientific detective

X-Raying the Pyramids with Egyptologist Ahmed Fakhry and Team Leader Jerry Anderson, Berkeley, 1967

In 1964, Alvarez proposed what became known as the

early universe. This work was a large effort, carrying detectors aloft with high-altitude balloon flights and high-flying U-2 aircraft, and an early precursor of the COBE satellite-born experiments on the cosmic background radiation (which resulted in the award of the 2006 Nobel Prize, shared by George Smoot and John Mather.[46]
)

Alvarez proposed

spark chambers, standard equipment in the high-energy particle physics of this time, beneath the Pyramid of Khafre in a known chamber. By measuring the counting rate of the cosmic rays in different directions the detector would reveal the existence of any void in the overlaying rock structure.[47]

Alvarez assembled a team of physicists and archeologists from the United States and Egypt, the recording equipment was constructed and the experiment carried out, though it was interrupted by the 1967 Six-Day War. Restarted after the war, the effort continued, recording and analyzing the penetrating cosmic rays until 1969, when he reported to the American Physical Society that no chambers had been found in the 19% of the pyramid surveyed.[48]

In November 1966

Kennedy assassination. Alvarez, an expert in optics and photoanalysis, became intrigued by the pictures and began to study what could be learned from the film. Alvarez demonstrated both in theory and experiment that the backward snap of the President's head was consistent with his being shot from behind being called the "jet-effect" theory. Prominent forensic investigator Josiah Thompson, in his 2021 book Last Second in Dallas, closely examined Alvarez's experiment and found it flawed, suggesting Alvarez may have been politically motivated to oppose any theory suggesting a conspiracy to kill Kennedy.[citation needed] Alvarez's theory had, however, been further refined and corroborated by other researchers.[49][50] Alvarez also investigated the timing of the gunshots and the shockwave that disturbed the camera, and the speed of the camera, pointing out a number of details that the FBI photo analysts either overlooked or got wrong. He produced a paper intended as a tutorial, with informal advice for the physicist intent on arriving at the truth of the case.[51]

Dinosaur extinction

Main article: Alvarez hypothesis
Gubbio, Italy
, 1981

In 1980 Alvarez and his son, geologist

Helen Michel, "uncovered a calamity that literally shook the Earth and is one of the great discoveries about Earth's history".[2]

During the 1970s, Walter Alvarez was doing geologic research in central Italy. There he had located an outcrop on the walls of a gorge whose limestone layers included strata both above and below the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. Exactly at the boundary is a thin layer of clay. Walter told his father that the layer marked where the dinosaurs and much else became extinct and that nobody knew why, or what the clay was about—it was a big mystery, and he intended to solve it.[2]

Alvarez had access to the

Helen Michel, who used the technique of neutron activation analysis. In 1980, Alvarez, Alvarez, Asaro, and Michel published a seminal paper proposing an extraterrestrial cause for the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction (then called the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction).[52] In the years following the publication of their article, the clay was also found to contain soot, glassy spherules, shocked quartz crystals, microscopic diamonds, and rare minerals formed only under conditions of great temperature and pressure.[2]

Publication of the 1980 paper brought criticism from the geologic community, and an often acrimonious scientific debate ensued. Ten years later, and after Alvarez's death, evidence of a large

Chicxulub was found off the coast of Mexico, providing support for the theory. Other researchers later found that the end-Cretaceous extinction of the dinosaurs may have occurred rapidly in geologic terms, over thousands of years, rather than millions of years as had previously been supposed. Others continue to study alternative extinction causes such as increased volcanism, particularly the massive Deccan Traps eruptions that occurred around the same time, and climate change, checking against the fossil record. However, on March 4, 2010, a panel of 41 scientists agreed that the Chicxulub asteroid impact triggered the mass extinction.[53]

Aviation

In his autobiography, Alvarez said, "I think of myself as having had two separate careers, one in science and one in aviation. I've found the two almost equally rewarding." An important contributor to this was his enjoyment of flying. He learned to fly in 1933, later earning instrument and multi-engine ratings. Over the next 50 years he accumulated over 1000 hours of flight time, most of it as pilot in command.[54] He said, "I found few activities as satisfying as being pilot in command with responsibility for my passengers' lives."[55]

Alvarez made numerous professional contributions to aviation. During World War II he led the development of multiple aviation-related technologies. Several of his projects are described above, including Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) for which he was awarded the Collier Trophy in 1945. He also held the basic patent for the radar transponder, for which he assigned rights to the U.S. government for $1.[54]

Later in his career Alvarez served on multiple high level advisory committees related to civilian and military aviation. These included a Federal Aviation Administration task group on future air navigation and air traffic control systems, the President's Science Advisory Committee Military Aircraft Panel, and a committee studying how the scientific community could help improve the United States' capabilities for fighting a nonnuclear war.[56]

Alvarez's aviation responsibilities led to many adventures. For example, while working on GCA he became the first civilian to fly a low approach with his view outside the cockpit obstructed. He also flew many military aircraft from the co-pilot's seat, including a

B-29 Superfortress[55] and a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter.[57] In addition, he survived a crash during World War II as a passenger in a Miles Master.[58]

Other activities

Alvarez was a member of the JASON Defense Advisory Group and the Bohemian Club.[59]

Death

Alvarez died on September 1, 1988, of complications from a succession of recent operations for

The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.[62]

In popular culture

In the 2023 film Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan, Alvarez was portrayed by actor Alex Wolff.[63]

Awards and honors

Selected publications

Patents

  • Golf training device[79]
  • Electronuclear Reactor[80]
  • Optical range finder with variable angle exponential prism[81]
  • Two-element variable-power spherical lens[82]
  • Variable-power lens and system[83]
  • Subatomic particle detector with liquid electron multiplication medium[84]
  • Method of making
    Fresnelled optical element matrix[85]
  • Optical element of reduced thickness[86]
  • Method of forming an optical element of reduced thickness[87]
  • Deuterium tagged articles such as explosives and method for detection thereof[88]
  • Stabilized zoom binocular[89]
  • Stand alone collision avoidance system[90]
  • Television viewer[91]
  • Stabilized zoom binocular[92]
  • Optically stabilized camera lens system[93]
  • Nitrogen detection[94]
  • Inertial pendulum optical stabilizer[95]

Citations

  1. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1968". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on October 24, 2008. Retrieved October 9, 2008.
  2. ^
    doi:10.1119/1.2772290
    .
  3. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 9–10.
  4. ^ Fernandez, R. M. (September 2011). "A Finding Aid to the Mabel Alvarez Papers, 1898–1987, in the Archives of American Art". Archives of American Art. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
  5. ^ a b Trower 1987, p. 259.
  6. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 12–16.
  7. ^ a b c d "Luis W. Alvarez – Biography". Nobelprize.org. Retrieved April 17, 2011.
  8. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 23–24.
  9. ISBN 978-0-8160-5532-6
    . p. 168.
  10. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 25–27.
  11. ISBN 9780465001156
    . "Physicists feel that the subject of religion is taboo. Almost all consider themselves agnostics. We talk about the big bang that started the present universe and wonder what caused it and what came before. To me the idea of a Supreme Being is attractive, but I'm sure that such a Being isn't the one described in any holy book. Since we learn about people by examining what they have done, I conclude that any Supreme Being must have been a great mathematician. The universe operates with precision according to mathematical laws of enormous complexity. I'm unable to identify its creator with the Jesus to whom my maternal grandparents, missionaries in China, devoted their lives."
  12. ^ Incurable Physician: An Autobiography. Prentice-Hall. 1963.
  13. ^ Alvarez 1987, p. 31.
  14. ^ Alvarez 1987, p. 38.
  15. ^ Alvarez 1987, p. 284.
  16. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 205–207, 281.
  17. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 46–48.
  18. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.52.134
    .
  19. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 54–55.
  20. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.56.613
    .
  21. ^ Trower 2009, p. 6.
  22. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 67–71.
  23. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.57.111
    .
  24. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 78–85.
  25. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 90–93.
  26. ISBN 0-465-00115-7
    .
  27. ^ Fractals, Chaos and Power Laws, Manfred Schroeder, Dover, 1991, p.33.
  28. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 101–103.
  29. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 96–100.
  30. ^ "Collier 1940–1949 Winners". National Aeronautic Association. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  31. ^ "Radar Expert will Receive Collier Trophy". The Courier-Journal. Louisville, Kentucky. Associated Press. December 13, 1946. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com.
  32. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 104–110.
  33. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 110.
  34. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 114–121.
  35. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 123–128.
  36. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 131–136.
  37. ^ Alvarez 1987, p. 125.
  38. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 137–142.
  39. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 6–8.
  40. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 144–146.
  41. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 153–159.
  42. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 185–189.
  43. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 190–194.
  44. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 196–199.
  45. The Nobel Foundation
    . Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  46. ^
    Alvarez Physics Memo
     (503). Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  47. Alvarez Physics Memo
    (544). Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  48. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 232–236.
  49. PMID 29736430
    .
  50. PMID 30294686
    .
  51. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 239–250.
  52. S2CID 16017767. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on September 24, 2015. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  53. S2CID 2659741
    .
  54. ^ a b Alvarez 1987, pp. 30–31.
  55. ^ a b Alvarez 1987, pp. 268.
  56. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 218–223.
  57. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 224.
  58. ^ Alvarez 1987, pp. 108.
  59. ^ Trower 2009, p. 13.
  60. ^ Sullivan, Walter (September 2, 1988). "Luis W. Alvarez, Nobel Physicist Who Explored Atom, Dies at 77". The New York Times.
  61. Soylent Communications
    . Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  62. Online Archive of California
    . Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  63. ^ Moss, Molly; Knight, Lewis (July 22, 2023). "Oppenheimer cast: Full list of actors in Christopher Nolan film". Radio Times. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
  64. ^ "Collier Trophy: Collier 1940–1949 Winners". National Aeronautical Association. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2011.
  65. ^ "Luis Walter Alvarez 1911–1988" (PDF). National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved April 17, 2011.
  66. ^ "Dr. Luis Walter Alvarez – Public Profile". American Philosophical Society. Archived from the original on March 19, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2011.
  67. ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved April 17, 2011.
  68. ^ "California Scientist of the Year Award Recipients". California Science Center. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  69. American Academy of Achievement
    .
  70. ^ "National Medal of Science". American Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on August 8, 2016. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  71. ^ "The Michelson Lectures and Award" (PDF). Case Western Reserve University. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 13, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  72. ^ "Dr. Luis W. Alvarez". National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved April 17, 2011.
  73. ^ "Alumni Awards winners". University of Chicago. Archived from the original on October 18, 2014. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  74. ^ "Hall of Fame / Inventor Profile – Luis Walter Alvarez". National Inventors Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on July 6, 2010. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  75. ^ "Luis Alvarez, 1987". The Enrico Fermi Award. US Department of Energy. Archived from the original on November 1, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2011.
  76. IEEE
    . Retrieved April 17, 2011.
  77. ^ "Boy Scout award requirements". Archived from the original on July 30, 2016. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  78. ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7
    .
  79. ^ Alvarez, Luis W. (March 4, 1958). "Golf training device". U.S. Patent No. 2,825,569. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  80. ^ Lawrence, E. O., McMillan, E. M., & Alvarez, L. W. (1960). Electronuclear Reactor (No. US 2933442).
  81. ^ Alvarez, L. W. (January 24, 1967). "Optical range finder with variable angle exponential prism". U.S. Patent No. 3,299,768. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  82. ^ Alvarez, Luis W. (February 21, 1967). "Two-element variable-power spherical lens". U.S. Patent 3,305,294. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  83. ^ Alvarez, Luis W., and William E. Humphrey. (April 21, 1970). "Variable-power lens and system". U.S. Patent No. 3,507,565. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  84. ^ Alvarez, Luis W., Stephen E. Derenzo, Richard A. Muller, Robert G. Smits, and Haim Zaklad. (April 25, 1972). "Subatomic particle detector with liquid electron multiplication medium". U.S. Patent No. 3,659,105. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  85. ^ Alvarez, L. (June 19, 1973). "Method of making fresnelled optical element matrix". U.S. Patent No. 3,739,455. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  86. ^ Alvarez, L. (August 6, 1974). "Optical element of reduced thickness". U.S. Patent No. 3,827,798. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  87. ^ Alvarez, L. (August 13, 1974). "Method of forming an optical element of reduced thickness". U.S. Patent No. 3,829,536. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  88. ^ Alvarez, Luis W.,(February 17, 1981). "Deuterium tagged articles such as explosives and method for detection thereof". U.S. Patent No. 4,251,726. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  89. ^ Alvarez, Luis W., and Schwemin, Arnold J. (February 23, 1982). "Stabilized zoom binocular". U.S. Patent No. 4,316,649 . Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  90. ^ Alvarez, Luis W. (February 23, 1982). "Stand alone collision avoidance system". U.S. Patent No. 4,317,119. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  91. ^ Alvarez, Luis W., (August 16, 1983). "Television viewer". U.S. Patent No. 4,399,455. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  92. ^ Alvarez, Luis W., and Schwemin, Arnold J. (November 29, 1983). "Stabilized zoom binocular". U.S. Patent No. 4,417,788. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  93. ^ Alvarez, Luis W., and Schwemin, Arnold J. (October 7, 1986). "Optically stabilized camera lens system". U.S. Patent No. 4,615,590. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  94. ^ Alvarez, Luis W. (July 12, 1988). "Nitrogen detection". U.S. Patent No. 4,756,866. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  95. ^ Alvarez, Luis W., and Sporer, Stephen F. (March 27, 1990). "Inertial pendulum optical stabilizer". U.S. Patent No. 4,911,541. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

General references

External links

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