He cofounded Luis Walter Alvarez's research group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

His first paper presented internationally described proton-generated mesons using results generated by the lab's cyclotron.

[1] Among doctoral candidates he advised are George Kalbfleisch, John Marriner, and Bill Gary.

[2] During World War II, Stevenson enlisted at Fort Douglas; following basic training, he volunteered as an aeronautics engineer.

He was then sent to Fort Belvoir in order to learn both the setting-up and the defusing of mines.