Burton Richter

Burton Richter
Born (1931-03-22) March 22, 1931
Brooklyn, New York City
Nationality American
Institutions Stanford University
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Alma mater MIT
Doctoral advisor Bernard T. Feld[1][2]
Known for J/ψ meson
Notable awards E. O. Lawrence Award (1975)
Nobel Prize in Physics (1976)
Enrico Fermi Award (2010)
Spouse Laurose Becker (m. 1960; 2 children)

Burton Richter (born March 22, 1931) is a Nobel Prize-winning American physicist. He led the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) team which co-discovered the J/ψ meson in 1974, alongside the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) team led by Samuel Ting. This discovery was part of the so-called November Revolution of particle physics. He was the SLAC director from 1984 to 1999.

Life and work

A native of New York City, Richter was born into a Jewish[3] family in Brooklyn, and was raised in the Queens neighborhood of Far Rockaway.[4] His parents were Fanny (Pollack) and Abraham Richter, a textile worker.[5] He graduated from Far Rockaway High School, a school that also produced fellow laureates Baruch Samuel Blumberg and Richard Feynman.[6] He attended Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania, then continued on to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1952 and his PhD 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 led a team that discovered a new subatomic particle he called a ψ (psi). This discovery was also made by the team led by Samuel Ting at Brookhaven National Laboratory, but he called the particle J. The particle thus became known as the J/ψ meson. Richter and Ting were jointly awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work.

Richter was a member of the JASON advisory group and serves on the board of directors of Scientists and Engineers for America, an organization focused on promoting sound science in American government.[7]

In May 2007, he visited Iran and Sharif University of Technology.[8]

In 2012, President Barack Obama announced that Burton Richter was a co-recipient of the Enrico Fermi Award, along with Mildred Dresselhaus.[7]

In 2013, Richter commented on an open letter from Tom Wigley, Kerry Emanuel, Ken Caldeira, and James Hansen, that Angela Merkel was "wrong to shut down nuclear".[9]

In 2014, Richter was among the residents of a continuing care retirement center filing a lawsuit alleging refundable entrance fees were sent out of state. This may be the first legal complaint challenging a continuing care retirement home's financial practices.[10][11][12] At a hearing on September 9, 2014 in Federal Court, attorneys allege Richter read the contracts, saw significant problems, and is entitled to pursue a legal judgement concerning the use of his money.[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Burton Richter (1956). Photoproduction of Positive Pions from Hydrogen by 265 MEV Gamma Rays (PDF) (Thesis). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-27. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  2. ↑ MIT libraries Ph.D. Thesis record
  3. ↑ Shalev, Baruch A. (2002). 100 Years of Nobel Prizes. The Americas Group. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-935047-37-0
  4. ↑ Crease, Robert P.; Mann, Charles C. (October 26, 1986). "In Search of the Z Particle". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-10-02. Burton Richter was born in Brooklyn 55 years ago, but grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens.
  5. ↑ http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Burton_Richter.aspx
  6. ↑ Schwach, Howard (April 15, 2005). "Museum tracks down FRHS Nobel laureates". The Wave. Retrieved 2007-10-02. Burton Richter graduated from Far Rockaway High School in 1948.
  7. 1 2 "President Obama Names Scientists Mildred Dresselhaus and Burton Richter as the Enrico Fermi Award Winners". January 11, 2012.
  8. ↑ Erdbrink, Thomas (June 6, 2008). "Iran makes the sciences a part of its revolution". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Environmental scientists tout nuclear power to avert climate change - CNN.com". CNN. November 3, 2013.
  10. ↑ Burton Richter, Linda Collins Cork, Georgia L. May, Thomas Merigan, Alfred Spivack, Janice R. Anderson v. CC-Palo Alto, Inc. (United States District Court for the Northern District of California). Text
  11. ↑ Jason Green (2014-02-20). "Residents sue Palo Alto retirement community for 'up-streaming' $190 million". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  12. ↑ KTVU (Feb 19, 2014). "Residents file suit against high-end Palo Alto seniors home". Cox Media Group Television. Archived from the original on 2014-02-24. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  13. ↑ Sue Dreman (Sep 12, 2014). "Vi seniors take case to federal court". Retrieved 2014-11-08.

Publications

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Preceded by
Wolfgang Panofsky		 SLAC Director
1984–1999 		Succeeded by
Jonathan M. Dorfan
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