---
category: Private Organization
summary: The University of California is a public university system whose physics
  Nobel laureate Luis Alvarez served on the ad hoc expert panel that analyzed VELA
  satellite data from the suspected 1979 South Atlantic nuclear explosion.
tags:
- Organization
- Academic
- USA
---

The University of California is a public university system in [California](/places/california/). The physics department at the [University of California](/organizations/university-of-california/) was home to Luis Alvarez, a Nobel laureate who was a key colleague of [Jack P. Ruina](/people/jack-p-ruina/) on an ad hoc panel of distinguished scientists tasked with studying the [VELA Satellite](/concepts/vela-satellite/) data related to a probable nuclear explosion in the South Indian Ocean in 1979.[^1]

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.