Luis W. Alvarez was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 experimental physicist and inventor, who spent nearly all of his long professional career on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

. The American Journal of Physics

American Journal of Physics

The American Journal of Physics is a monthly, peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Institute of Physics. The editor is Jan Tobochnik of Kalamazoo College.-Aims and scope:...

 commented, "Luis Alvarez (1911–1988) was one of the most brilliant and productive experimental physicists of the twentieth century." He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics

Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...

 in 1968, and took out over 40 patents, some of which led to commercial products.
Alvarez was of Spanish

Spanish American

A Spanish American is a citizen or resident of the United States whose ancestors originate from the southwestern European nation of Spain. Spanish Americans are the earliest European American group, with a continuous presence since 1565.-Immigration waves:...

 descent from his paternal grandfather.