1931-

American physicist who advanced particle physics research methodology. Richter earned a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served as director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and directed development of the Stanford Positron Electron Asymmetric Ring. In 1976 Richter and Samuel C. C. Ting were co-recipients of the Nobel Prize for physics in recognition of their detection of a new type of heavy elementary particle, called J/psi, validating the hypothesis that matter has a quark substructure.