Luis Alvarez was an American experimental physicist and inventor, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.In 1940 Alvarez contributed to a number of World War II radar projects particularly the Ground Controlled Approach. He worked on nuclear reactors for Enrico Fermi and observed the bombing of Hiroshima.
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. He analyzed film footage of the Kennedy assassination, and with his son, developed the Alvarez hypothesis which proposes that the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs was the result of an asteroid impact.
Luis Alvarez has the perfect birthchart for an experimental physicist. The Capricorn Research Project has found that the most common Sun signs for scientists are Gemini and Capricorn. Alvarez has the Sun in the former and the Moon in the latter. He also has a conjunction between the Sun and Pluto. Pluto is the planet of the atomic age and it’s whole symbolism revolves around the idea of something tiny ( it is the smallest and most remote planet ) having the most powerful explosive effect, as anyone who has read these pages would testify. So it’s utterly appropriate that a physicist who was so central to the dawn of the atomic age and made such important discoveries in particle physics should have his Sun conjunct Pluto in Gemini.
If experimental physics is to be found in the astrological house system it would be the 9th house of higher learning. If the subject comes under the rulership of any planets they would be Pluto and Uranus. Luis Alvarez had the Moon in the 9th house and Uranus was exactly conjunct the Midheaven showing his career as an experimental scientist and also his work as an inventor. Saturn closely conjunct his Taurus Ascendant would show someone who was very disciplined, serious minded and focused. Alvarez’ chart also has a Splash pattern with planets fairly equally spread around the chart, indicating someone with widespread interests.
The peak of Alvarez career came in 1968 when he won the Nobel Prize, Pluto was square his Sun in 1968, by far the most important transit of his life and this marked the recognition for all the work that had been inspired by the natal Sun / Pluto conjunction. It was an award for his part in the advancement of Plutonian Physics.