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 Science
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 professors
Bruce Hunt and Alberto Martínez. Professors Neil Foley and Sahotra Sarkar helped spark two chapters that eventually formed the kernels for this work. David Kessler at the
Berkeley Bancroft Library 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 physicists developed an identity akin to those ethnic identities developed by Chicanos and African Americans in the 1960s.
Tremendous successes in high-energy physics 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 “Big Science,” and won the Nobel Prize 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 field 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 interest in preserving the history of physics 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 group as he conquered fields like forensics and pyramidology, as well as famously proposing the theory that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs. 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 physicist is contrasted with another category of ident