Luis Alvarez
A member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, Alvarez did groundbreaking work in elementary particle physics. An experimental researcher, he studied cosmic rays and also designed the University of California at Berkeley's proton linear accelerator. He developed a technique that employed hydrogen bubble chambers and high-speed devices to measure and analyze data in ways that allowed for the discovery of many resonance states. He won a National Medal of Science and, in 1968, the Nobel Prize for Physics.