Luis Alvarez Luis Alvarez was primarily a physicist but had wide-ranging scientific interests. He did research into the atomic nucleus, electrons, radar and many other areas. Alvarez developed the detonating device for the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima and he was on the plane when the bomb was dropped. That event changed his life. In 1965, Alvarez went on an expedition to Egypt to work on the structure of pyramids and in 1980, while working with his son, he came up with the theory that a gigantic asteroid had collided with the Earth about 65 million years ago killing all of the dinosaurs. His theory has still not been confirmed.