Richter, Burton

Richter, Burton (rik'tur) [key], 1931–, American physicist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1956. A professor at Stanford Univ., Richter built a particle accelerator (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 called a psi-particle (now called a J-particle). The same discovery was made independently by Samuel Ting. The two scientists were jointly awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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