Alvarez, Walter

1940 - Born in Berkeley, California. An American geologist and expert on plate tectonics, mountain formation, causes of mass extinctions, and paleomagnetism.

1962 - He earned his B.A. in geology.

1967 - Received his Ph.D. in geology from Princeton University.

        - He was a geologist in The Netherlands and Libya with American Overseas Petroleum.
 

1977 - Came to Berkeley, and began a study of the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period, as recorded in the Italian limestones.

1981 - He was a professor of geology and geophysics, University of California, Berkeley.

• "When there is no peril in the fight, there is no glory in the triumph."
• "Despair, in short, seeks its own environment as surely as water finds its own level."