Burton Richter was a distinguished experimental physicist whose pioneering work fundamentally advanced our understanding of subatomic particles and their interactions. Born in Brooklyn, New York on March 22, 1931, he earned his bachelor's degree in 1952 and his Ph.D. in 1956 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he conducted early research on the quadratic Zeeman effect in hydrogen and the photoproduction of pi-mesons. After completing his doctorate, Richter joined Stanford University as a research associate in 1956, where he began conducting experiments that confirmed the validity of quantum electrodynamics at very short distances. He rose through the academic ranks to become a full professor at Stanford in 1967, establishing himself as a leading figure in the emerging field of high-energy particle physics.
Richter's most groundbreaking contribution came in 1974 when he discovered the J/psi particle using the Stanford Positron-Electron Asymmetric Ring, a colliding-beam accelerator he had developed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. This discovery, made simultaneously but independently of Samuel C.C. Ting at Brookhaven National Laboratory, revealed the existence of a fourth quark type known as charm, which provided critical evidence supporting the developing Standard Model of particle physics. The J/psi particle represented the first of a new class of very massive, long-lived mesons and demonstrated the validity of quantum chromodynamics, the theory describing the strong nuclear force. This paradigm-shifting discovery earned Richter and Ting the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physics, recognizing their profound contribution to understanding the fundamental building blocks of matter.
Beyond his Nobel-winning discovery, Richter made enduring contributions to accelerator physics by developing the energy-scaling laws for high-energy electron-positron colliders, which directly informed the design of CERN's 27-kilometer Large Electron-Positron Collider in the 1980s. As director of SLAC from 1984 to 1999, he provided visionary leadership that advanced both particle physics and photon science, overseeing the development of the Stanford Linear Collider, the world's first linear collider with polarized electron beams. Richter's scientific legacy extends through numerous honors including the National Medal of Science awarded by President Obama in 2014 and the Department of Energy's Enrico Fermi Award in 2012. His innovative spirit and scientific rigor continue to influence the field of particle physics, with his work on colliding-beam technology remaining foundational to modern high-energy physics research worldwide.
