Richter honored by Obama, Chu in Washington

President Barack Obama greets 2010 Fermi Award recipients Burton Richter, right, and his wife, Laurose, and Mildred S. Dresselhaus, third from right, and her husband, Gene, in the Oval Office, May 7, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

BURTON RICHTER, director emeritus of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the Paul Pigott Professor in the Physical Sciences, Emeritus, was one of two of the nation’s most accomplished scientists honored Monday for devoting their lives to great science, teaching and mentoring, and public service.

After visiting with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office on Monday, May 7, Richter and MILDRED DRESSELHAUS, professor emerita of physics and electrical engineering at MIT, were joined by distinguished guests at the Ronald Reagan International Center. There, Secretary of Energy STEVEN CHU, the Theodore and Frances Geballe Professor of Physics and Applied Physics, Emeritus, at Stanford, honored them as winners of the Enrico Fermi Award.

The Fermi Award is one of the oldest and most prestigious science and technology honors bestowed by the U.S. government. It is administered by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science to honor individuals who have given unstintingly over their careers to advance energy science, and to inspire future scientists to follow their example.

Richter was recognized “for the breadth of his influence in the multiple disciplines of accelerator physics and particle physics, his profound scientific discoveries, his visionary leadership as SLAC director, his leadership of science, and his notable contributions in energy and public policy.”

Read the full announcement at whitehouse.gov.