Copyright

by

Jesús Rubén Martínez

2011

The Dissertation Committee for Jesús Rubén Martínez Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation:

The Adventures of Luis Alvarez: Identity Politics in the Making of an American

Committee:

Bruce J. Hunt, Supervisor

Alberto Martínez

Tracie Matysik

Michael Stoff

Mark Raizen

The Adventures of Luis Alvarez: Identity Politics in the Making of an American Science

by

Jesús Rubén Martínez, B.A., M.A.

Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of

The University of Texas at Austin

in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements

for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

The University of Texas at Austin December 2011

Dedication

To my parents, Rubén and Angelina, for not keeping a language of secrets.

Acknowledgements

This dissertation would not have been possible without the guidance of

Bruce Hunt and Alberto Martínez. Professors Neil Foley and Sahotra Sarkar helped spark two chapters that eventually formed the kernels for this . David Kessler at the

Berkeley Bancroft and Becky Willard at the University of Texas Pickle Center both helped me work through a tremendous amount of raw materials. Finally, I would like to thank Eleanor Fluharty for putting up with a dissertation writer.

v The Adventures of Luis Alvarez: Identity Politics in the Making of an American Science

Publication No.______

Jesús Rubén Martínez, Ph.D.

The University of Texas at Austin, 2011

Supervisor: Bruce J. Hunt

In the 1930s and 1940s, American atomic developed an identity akin to those ethnic identities developed by Chicanos and in the 1960s.

Tremendous successes in high- put these American physicists at the pinnacle of science worldwide. Luis W. Alvarez was one of the central figures in this rise, was central to the development of “,” and won the in 1968.

However, historians have largely ignored him. Through Alvarez we see that American atomic physicists before the 1930s lacked an identity. Alvarez witnessed the growth of his and was an early advocate for an identity for American atomic physicists. Using identity politics as a theme, we find five stories centered on Alvarez that illustrate this

vi emerging self-image. Alvarez’s autobiography demonstrates his in preserving the and establishing his place in it. A textbook draft that Alvarez abandoned in 1952 further illustrates his early interest in the history of physics then absent in physics textbooks and an early interest in mythology and heroes. Alvarez’s work outside of physics helps define the boundaries of this newly self-identifying as he conquered fields like forensics and pyramidology, as well as famously proposing the theory that an killed the . A collection of letters from cranks helps us demarcate science from non-science and thus define the boundaries of science.

Finally, Alvarez’s identity as a is contrasted with another category of ident