'Burton Richter' (born
March 22 1931) is a
Nobel Prize-winning
American physicist. A native of
New York City, he attended
MIT, where he received his
bachelor's degree in
1952 and his
Ph.D. in
1956. He was director of the
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) from
1984 to
1999.
As a professor at
Stanford University, Richter built a
particle accelerator called
SPEAR (Stanford Positron-Electron Asymmetric Ring) with the help of
David Ritson and the support of the
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. With it he discovered a new
subatomic particle he called a psi particle (now called a
J/ψ particle).
The same discovery was made independently by
Samuel Ting and the two scientists were jointly awarded the
1976 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work.
Richter currently serves on the board of advisors of
Scientists and Engineers for America, an organization focused on promoting sound science in American government.
External links
★
Nobelprize.org autobiography
★
Nobel Lecture (PDF format)
★
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1976
★
SLAC press image
★
NIF Secretary of Energy Board
★
A Celebration Honoring Burton Richter SLAC image gallery