Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Today, the lead plane of our little formation dropped a single bomb which
probably exploded with the force of 15,000 tons of high explosive. That
means that the days of large bombing raids, with several hundred planes,
are finished. A single plane disguised as a friendly transport can now wipe
out a city. That means to me that nations will have to get along together
in a friendly fashion, or suffer the consequences of sudden sneak attacks
which can cripple them overnight.
What regrets I have about being a party to killing and maiming thou-
sands of Japanese civilians this morning are tempered with the hope that
this terrible weapon we have created may bring the countries of the
world together and prevent further wars. Alfred Nobel thought that his
invention of high explosives would have that effect, by making wars too
terrible, but unfortunately it had just the opposite reaction. Our new
destructive force is so many thousands of times worse that it may realize
Nobel's dream.
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While Luis's desire that the existence of nuclear weapons would
prevent further wars was not fulfilled, knowledge of their destruc-
tive power may have averted a third world war, validating his hope.
What no one could have predicted is that, 35 years after his let-
ter was written, father and son would discover evidence of an explo-
sion so enormous as to dwarf even the awful one that Luis had just
witnessed.
When Dale Russell's paper on dinosaur extinction appeared in
1979, Luis Alvarez was 68 years old. Eleven years earlier, he had
reached the pinnacle of scientific success, receiving the Nobel Prize
in physics for his work in developing the hydrogen bubble cham-
ber, which led to the discovery of many new subatomic particles.
His Nobel citation was one of the longest on record. Ninety-nine of
one hundred scientists, having had such a career, would have been
content to rest on their laurels, perhaps becoming scientific elder
statesmen who tread the corridors of power in Washington, D.C.
Indeed, such a course might have tempted Luis, for particle physics
was no longer the game that he had helped to invent. Finding new
particles required higher and higher energies, and more and more
money, changing particle physics into the biggest of big science.
Papers emanating from such facilities as the Stanford Linear Ac-
celerator Center and CERN, the European consortium housed in
Geneva, often had dozens, even scores, of "co-authors." This was not
the way Luis had succeeded in science. If not quite a lone wolf, he
had at least been the alpha of a small pack.
But in the twilight of a career, even the most inventive of minds
may require a spark. Although Luis confessed a notable lack of ex-
