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Honouring Burton Richter

15 March 2000

Winner of a Nobel Prize for physics, a longtime laboratory director and a leading figure in international science – Burton Richter’s contributions range wide. A recent celebration at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center paid tribute.

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Haim Harari from the Weizmann Institute in Israel said it best: “On occasions like the celebration honouring Burton Richter, the talks require a formula: 30% physics, 30% nostalgia, 30% entertainment and 10% admiration.”

Other speakers at the day-long celebration held at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in January varied a great deal in these percentages. The day was, in turns, serious, funny and sentimental. When the balance shifted to the sweet side, Richter, now emeritus director of SLAC, commented: “You can get sick on too much sugar.”

Harari’s presentation reviewed the November Revolution of 1974. He recalled mailing a letter home to Israel on 8 November of that year, saying that things were rather boring at SLAC and that he wished that he were at Fermilab. Two days later, the psi peak was discovered at the SPEAR electron-positron collider and Harari realized his good fortune in being at SLAC on such a momentous occasion.

Weighing in heavily on the admiration end of the scale, both Martha Krebs, former director of the Office of Science at the Department of Energy (DOE), and John O’Fallon, head of the high-energy physics programme at the DOE, praised Richter for his candour and his mentoring of the young (and “not-so-young”, according to Krebs). “Richter is a strong and ardent advocate for science,” said O’Fallon. Known for having the last word in every situation, Richter shot back: “If I’m so good, how come I didn’t get bigger budgets?”

Recognizing Martha Krebs’ six-and-a-half years with the DOE in Washington, Richter added a surprise event to the day’s agenda. After Krebs’ speech, he presented her with a coveted award given only to SLAC retirees – a beam tree. “After all, you’re a retiree now,” he remarked.

SLAC director Jonathan Dorfan’s welcome to the crowd of 300 people roasted his old boss with gentle jibes about Richter’s trainers, the trademark New Balance shoes that he habitually wears, almost regardless of the occasion. (Let the record show that Richter did wear leather shoes for his celebration.) Dorfan showed pictures of Richter in sneakers from 1970 to the present, with university presidents and royalty. Richter’s golf hats also came in for some ribaldry. Later on at the after-dinner speech, Sidney Drell admonished Dorfan on this topic. “Dorfan is a good scientist but a lousy historian. I lost my hair long before Burt, and I started the trend to golf hats at SLAC, and I want to set the record straight,” said Drell emphatically.

Others continued to roast Richter while praising his wife Laurose. SLAC emeritus director W K H (Pief) Panofsky complimented Richter on his good judgement. “He stole my secretary and married her,” he said, referring to Laurose. MIT’s Lou Osborne recalled the early days with Richter at MIT, but made sure that he added “that one of the best things about Burt is Laurose: her hospitality, her good sense and wisdom that rivals her husband’s.”

Nan Phinney stuck to the science of the SLC/SLD for her talk. Artie Bienenstock, now at the Office of Science and Technology Policy, flew in from Washington, DC, to his old home at SLAC. He made some political remarks, which, he assured the participants, “do not represent the President, the White House, the Congress or OSTP,” adding that he was sure to offend someone, since that’s what happens once a person moves to Washington.

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That sentence gave Stanford University president Gerhard Casper just the opening he needed. “Artie, rest assured that you have offended at least one president in the audience,” he joked. A masterful speaker, Casper included erudite allusions and ad libs, fact and fiction. “One needs true genius to achieve praxis, the ability to combine theory and practice,” he said. “Richter bridges the conceptual, practical and political to get results.” Casper noted that Richter was lab director for 15 years, and in that time there were seven Secretaries of Energy. “Why so many? They were all worn down by Burt,” said Casper. “Politicians come and go, but like the Energizer Bunny, Richter keeps going and going.”

CERN’s Luciano Maiani, in paying tribute to Richter’s international science connections, was grateful for the arrival of a C-4 cargo plane in Italy. “It carried the BaBar coil back to America and allowed us in Italy to say the project was on time!”

John Rees spoke about Richter’s role in building SPEAR and how they struggled to design something cheap enough to get funding. “When we realized that we had spent too much the first year, like any good project managers, we decided to cut the construction time and we finished SPEAR sooner,” said Rees. Gus Voss traced the roots of the design for the next linear collider from SLAC projects in the past to the grand designs for the future generation machine.

At the evening’s dinner party, Sidney Drell brought the day’s events to an eloquent and pithy close, even though Richter still had the last word. “Physicists are not normal,” Drell said, “so we don’t have to follow Shakespeare’s seven stages of man.” Instead, Drell (the theorist) theorized on the stages of the physicist’s life: student, problem solver, builder, mentor, advisor, statesman. “Richter may choose at some point to answer to a higher authority and become a theorist himself.”

Richter came back with his own stages, having written them on his dinner napkin. “Monomaniacal physicist – that lasts up until about age 40,” he proposed. “Then in the 50s one becomes mature. I got a little concerned about turning 60, then I decided that was the age of wisdom. But in a few years I’ll turn 70, and I am looking forward to the next stage, whatever that might be.”

The next stage may well be rearranging his office to display all the plaques, pictures and memorabilia he acquired at his celebration. That is, if Richter takes the time away from his role as president of IUPAP, champion of the Next Linear Collider, advisor to Washington, and statesman for high energy physics.

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