Burton Richter

Infobox Scientist
name = Burton Richter
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caption = Burton Richter
birth_date = March 22 1931 (age 77)
birth_place = Brooklyn
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nationality = American
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known_for = J/ψ particle
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prizes = nowrap|Nobel Prize in Physics (1976)
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Burton Richter (born March 22 1931) is a Nobel Prize-winning American physicist.

Life

A native of New York City, he attended Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania, then continued on to study at 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.

Richter was born in Brooklyn and was raised in the Queens neighborhood of Far Rockaway. [ [http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F50710F93F5F0C758EDDA90994DE484D81 "IN SEARCH OF THE Z PARTICLE"] , "The New York Times", October 26, 1986. Accessed October 2, 2007. "BURTON RICHTER was born in Brooklyn 55 years ago, but grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens."] He graduated from Far Rockaway High School, a school that also produced fellow laureates Baruch Samuel Blumberg and Richard Feynman. [Schwach, Howard. [http://www.rockawave.com/news/2005/0415/Community/186.html "Museum Tracks Down FRHS Nobel Laureates"] , "The Wave", April 15, 2005. Accessed October 2, 2007. "Burton Richter graduated from Far Rockaway High School in 1948."]

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 serves on the board of directors of Scientists and Engineers for America, an organization focused on promoting sound science in American government.

In May 2007, he went to Iran and Sharif University of Technology. [Cite Web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/05/AR2008060503904.html?nav=rss_email/components&sid=ST2008060602843|title=Iran Makes the Sciences A Part of Its Revolution]

ee also

* List of independent discoveries

References

External links

* [http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1976/richter-autobio.html Nobelprize.org autobiography]
* [http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1976/richter-lecture.pdf Nobel Lecture] (PDF format)
* [http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1976/index.html The Nobel Prize in Physics 1976]
* [http://www.slac.stanford.edu/slac/media-info/photos/lg-richter.html SLAC press image]
* [http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/nif/seab1c.asp NIF Secretary of Energy Board]
* [http://www.slac.stanford.edu/grp/do/quicknews/images/richterphotos.html A Celebration Honoring Burton Richter] SLAC image gallery