View source for Biography:Richard E. Taylor

{{Short description|Canadian physicist (1929-2018)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name             = Richard Taylor
|honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CC|FRS|FRSC|size=100%}}
|birth_name       = Richard Edward Taylor
|image            = Richard E. Taylor.jpg
|caption          = Taylor in 1967
|birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=yes|1929|11|2}}
|birth_place      = Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
|death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2018|2|22|1929|11|2}}
|death_place      = Stanford, California, U.S.
|fields           = Particle physics
|thesis_title     = Positive pion production by polarised bremsstrahlung
|thesis_year      = 1962
|thesis_url       = http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/38657023
|workplaces       = {{Plainlist|
* Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
* Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
* École Normale Supérieure}}
|alma_mater       = {{Plainlist|
* University of Alberta (BS, MSc) 
* [[Organization:Stanford University|Stanford University]] ([[Social:Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])}}
|doctoral_advisor = Robert F. Mozley
|awards           = {{Plainlist|
* Nobel Prize in Physics (1990)
* FRS (1997)<ref name=frs>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151021075012/https://royalsociety.org/people/richard-taylor-12395/|archive-date=2015-10-21|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/richard-taylor-12395/|publisher=Royal Society|location=London|title=Professor Richard Taylor FRS}}</ref>}}
|website          = 
}}

'''Richard Edward Taylor''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CC|FRS|FRSC}} (2 November 1929 – 22 February 2018),<ref name=obituary>{{cite journal |last1=Breidenbach |first1=Martin |last2=Prescott |first2=Charles |date=June 2018 |title=Richard Taylor 1929-2018 |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/2320186 |journal=CERN Courier |volume=58 |issue=5 |pages=41–42 |access-date=2 July 2018 }}</ref> was a Canadian physicist and [[Organization:Stanford University|Stanford University]] professor.<ref name="nobel-bio">{{Nobelprize}}</ref> He shared the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics with [[Biography:Jerome Isaac Friedman|Jerome Friedman]] and [[Biography:Henry Way Kendall|Henry Kendall]] "for their pioneering investigations concerning [[Physics:Deep inelastic scattering|deep inelastic scattering]] of [[Physics:Electron|electron]]s on [[Physics:Proton|proton]]s and bound [[Physics:Neutron|neutron]]s, which have been of essential importance for the development of the [[Physics:Quark model|quark model]] in particle physics."<ref name="nobel-citation">[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1990/ Nobel prize citation]</ref><ref>Taylor, R. E. [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4572534-nucleon-form-factors-above-gev "Nucleon Form Factors above 6 GeV"], Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission), (Sept. 1967).</ref><ref>Taylor, R. E. [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/765018-discovery-point-like-structure-matter "The Discovery of the Point Like Structure of Matter"], Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), United States Department of Energy--Office of Energy Research, (Sept. 2000).</ref>

==Early life==
Taylor was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta. He studied for his BSc (1950) and MSc (1952) degrees at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Newly married, he applied to work for a PhD degree at [[Organization:Stanford University|Stanford University]], where he joined the High Energy Physics Laboratory.<ref name=nobel>[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1990/taylor-speech.html Taylors Nobel banquet speech]</ref>

His PhD thesis was on an experiment using polarised [[Physics:Gamma ray|gamma ray]]s to study [[Physics:Pion|pion]] production.<ref name=taylorhd>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Richard Edward|last=Taylor |title=Positive pion production by polarized bremsstrahlung |publisher=Stanford University |year=1962 |oclc=38657023}}</ref>

==Research and career==
After three years at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris and a year at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California, Taylor returned to Stanford.<ref name=osti>[http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/friedman_taylor_kendall.html Biography and Bibliographic Resources], from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, United States Department of Energy</ref> Construction of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (now the [[Organization:SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory|SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory]]) was beginning.<ref name="WPO"/> In collaboration with researchers from the [[Organization:California Institute of Technology|California Institute of Technology]] and the [[Organization:Massachusetts Institute of Technology|Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], Taylor worked on the design and construction of the equipment, and was involved in many of the experiments.<ref name="WPO"/>

In 1971, Taylor was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship that allowed him to spend a sabbatical year at [[Organization:CERN|CERN]].<ref name="nobel-bio"/>

The experiments run at SLAC in the late 1960s and early 1970s involved scattering high-energy beams of [[Physics:Electron|electron]]s from [[Physics:Proton|proton]]s and [[Physics:Deuteron|deuteron]]s and heavier [[Physics:Atomic nucleus|nuclei]].<ref name=scopus>{{Scopus|id=7405760718}}</ref><ref name="PrescottAtwood1978">{{cite journal|last1=Prescott|first1=C.Y.|last2=Atwood|first2=W.B.|last3=Cottrell|first3=R.L.A.|last4=DeStaebler|first4=H.|last5=Garwin|first5=Edward L.|last6=Gonidec|first6=A.|last7=Miller|first7=R.H.|last8=Rochester|first8=L.S.|last9=Sato|first9=T.|last10=Sherden|first10=D.J.|last11=Sinclair|first11=C.K.|last12=Stein|first12=S.|last13=Taylor|first13=R.E.|last14=Clendenin|first14=J.E.|last15=Hughes|first15=V.W.|last16=Sasao|first16=N.|last17=Schüler|first17=K.P.|last18=Borghini|first18=M.G.|last19=Lübelsmeyer|first19=K.|last20=Jentschke|first20=W.|title=Parity non-conservation in inelastic electron scattering|journal=Physics Letters B|volume=77|issue=3|year=1978|pages=347–352|issn=0370-2693|doi=10.1016/0370-2693(78)90722-0|bibcode = 1978PhLB...77..347P |osti=1446939}}</ref><ref name="BloomCoward1969">{{cite journal|last1=Bloom|first1=E. D.|last2=Coward|first2=D. H.|last3=DeStaebler|first3=H.|last4=Drees|first4=J.|last5=Miller|first5=G.|last6=Mo|first6=L. W.|last7=Taylor|first7=R. E.|last8=Breidenbach|first8=M.|last9=Friedman|first9=J. I.|last10=Hartmann|first10=G. C.|last11=Kendall|first11=H. W.|year=1969|title=High-Energy Inelastice−pScattering at 6° and 10°|journal=Physical Review Letters|volume=23|issue=16|pages=930–934|bibcode=1969PhRvL..23..930B|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.23.930|issn=0031-9007|doi-access=free}}</ref> At lower energies, it had already been found that the electrons would only be scattered through low angles, consistent with the idea that the [[Physics:Nucleon|nucleon]]s had no internal structure.<ref name="BloomCoward1969"/>  However, the SLAC-MIT experiments showed that higher energy electrons could be scattered through much higher angles, with the loss of some energy.<ref name="BloomCoward1969"/>  These deep inelastic scattering results provided the first experimental evidence that the protons and neutrons were made up of point-like particles, later identified to be the [[Physics:Up quark|up]] and [[Physics:Down quark|down]] [[Physics:Quark|quark]]s that had previously been proposed on theoretical grounds.<ref name="WPO"/>  The experiments also provided the first evidence for the existence of [[Physics:Gluon|gluon]]s. Taylor, Friedman and Kendall were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in 1990 for this work.<ref name="nobel-press">[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1990/press.html Nobel prize press release]</ref>

==Death==
Taylor died at his home in Stanford, California near the campus of Stanford University on 22 February 2018 at the age of 88.<ref name="WPO">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/richard-taylor-nobel-winning-physicist-who-helped-discover-quarks-dies-at-88/2018/02/24/3a7c8bda-18ea-11e8-8b08-027a6ccb38eb_story.html|title=Richard E. Taylor, Nobel Prize Winning Physicist Who Helped Discover Quarks, Dies at 88|newspaper={{wipe|The Washington Post}}|date=25 February 2018|access-date=25 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/obituaries/richard-e-taylor-nobel-winner-who-plumbed-matter-dies-at-88.html?mtrref=www.google.se&gwh=390FD1633D613D25365CA4B08F051C35&gwt=pay |title = Richard E. Taylor, Nobel Winner Who Plumbed Matter, is Dead at 88|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 2 March 2018|last1 = McClain|first1 = Dylan Loeb}}</ref>

==Awards and honours==
Taylor has received numerous awards and honours including:
{{div col|colwidth=35em}}
*Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Award, 1982.<ref name="facpage">{{Cite web |url=http://www.slac.stanford.edu/slac/faculty/hepfaculty/taylor.html |title=Taylor's entry in the SLAC index of faculty |access-date=4 May 2009 |archive-date=17 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090517034559/http://www.slac.stanford.edu/slac/faculty/hepfaculty/taylor.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*W.K.H. Panofsky Prize, 1989.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/recipients.cfm?year=1989|title=All Prize & Award Recipients|publisher=APS.org|access-date=25 February 2018}}</ref>
*Nobel Prize in Physics, 1990.<ref name="WPO"/>
*Golden Plate Award, American Academy of Achievement, 1991.<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url =https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}</ref>
*Fellow, Guggenheim Foundation, 1971 – 1972.<ref name="WPO"/>
*Fellow, [[Organization:American Physical Society|American Physical Society]], 1986.<ref name=osti/>
*Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science.<ref name=sca>{{cite web|url=http://www.science.ca/scientists/scientistprofile.php?pID=225|title=Richard E. Taylor|publisher=science.ca|access-date=25 February 2018}}</ref>
*Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1997<ref name=frs/>
*Fellow, Royal Society of Canada.<ref name="WPO"/>
*Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences.<ref name=sca/>
*Member, Canadian Association of Physicists.<ref name=sca/>
*Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences.<ref name=sca/>
*Companion of the Order of Canada, 2005.<ref name="WPO"/>
{{div col end}}

==In popular culture==
In May 2019, the announcement of the 1990 Nobel Prize for physics was featured on the season 2 finale of the TV series Young Sheldon. "A Swedish Science Thing and the Equation for Toast" featured Sheldon Cooper as a child, listening to a short wave radio as the Nobel Prize was announced in Sweden.{{fact|date=April 2022}}

==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture, 8 December 1990 ''Deep Inelastic Scattering: The Early Years''
{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1976-2000}}
{{1990 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Richard E.}}
[[Category:Experimental physicists]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physics]]

{{Sourceattribution|Richard E. Taylor}}