Podcast: The Orthogonal Bet
Episode: Alec Nevala-Lee on Luis Alvarez
Pub date: 2025-11-05

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In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks again with Alec Nevala-Lee. Arbesman previously hosted Nevala-Lee to discuss his biography of Buckminster Fuller; this time, Nevala-Lee returns to talk about his new book, Collisions, a biography of Nobel Prize–winning physicist Luis Alvarez. Alvarez’s career ranged across particle physics, the Manhattan Project, the investigation of the JFK assassination, and—alongside his son—the asteroid-impact theory of dinosaur extinction.

Arbesman and Nevala-Lee explore how Nevala-Lee first became interested in Alvarez; the physicist’s unique skills, brilliance, and difficult personality; the character of Berkeley and the Rad Lab in Alvarez’s era; the kinds and scale of science that most appealed to him; and his extensive work with the U.S. government. They also discuss Alvarez’s views on computers and the broader lessons from his life about choosing research problems and thriving as a successful outsider.

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