Martin L. Perl

Biography

Abstract

Martin Perl was Emeritus Professor of Physics at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) (2004-2014). Other institutional affiliations included the University of Michigan and General Electric. His research interests included strong interactions and leptons. In 1995, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the tau lepton."

Important Dates

June 24, 1927Birth, New York (N.Y.).

1948Obtained BS in Chemical Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.).

1948 – 1950Chemical Engineer, General Electric Company.

1955Obtained PhD in Physics, Columbia University, New York (N.Y.).

1955 – 1963Instructor to Associate Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Mich.).

1963 – 1964Associate Professor of Physics, Stanford University.

1963 – 2014Professor of Physics (1963-2004); Chair, High-Energy Physics Faculty (1991-1997); and Emeritus Professor of Physics (2004-2014), Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), Menlo Park (Calif.).

1981Member, National Academy of Sciences.

1982Awarded Wolf Foundation Prize in Physics.

1995Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the tau lepton".

September 30, 2014Death, Palo Alto (Calif.).

Occupation

Particle physicist.

Places

Birth

New York (N.Y.)

Undergraduate Education

Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)

Graduate Education

New York (N.Y.)

Employment

Ann Arbor (Mich.)

Menlo Park (Calif.)

Death

Palo Alto (Calif.)

Subjects

Leptons (Nuclear physics).

Particles (Nuclear physics).

Strong interactions (Nuclear physics)

Relationships

People

Family

Perl, Lila

Sister.

Perl, Oscar

Father.

Rosenthal, Fay

Mother.

Advisors & Collaborators

Rabi, I. I. (Isidor Isaac), 1898-1988

PhD advisor at Columbia University, "The nuclear electric quadrupole moment of sodium-23 by an atomic beam resonance method."

Ting, S. C. C. (Samuel Chao-chung), 1936-

Advised by Perl at University of Michigan.

Colleagues

Arnold, R. G. (Raymond George), 1942-

Both employed at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Bjorken, James D.

Both employed at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Case, Kenneth M.

Both employed at University of Michigan.

Coolidge, William David, 1873-1975

Both employed at General Electric Company.

Crane, H. R. (Horace Richard), 1907-2007

Both employed at University of Michigan.

Dennison, David M. (David Mathias), 1900-1976

Both employed at University of Michigan.

Dorfan, Jonathan

Both employed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Drell, Persis S.

Both employed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Drell, Sidney D. (Sidney David), 1926-

Both employed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Glaser, D. A.

Both employed at University of Michigan.

Guth, Alan H.

Both employed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Hull, Albert Wallace, 1880-1966

Both employed at General Electric Company.

Kahn, Steven Michael

Both employed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Langmuir, Irving, 1881-1957

Both employed at General Electric Company.

Laporte, Otto, 1902-1971

Both employed at University of Michigan.

Luttinger, Joaquin M.

Both employed at University of Michigan.

Panofsky, Wolfgang K. H. (Wolfgang Kurt Hermann), 1919-2007

Both employed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Polchinski, Joseph Gerard

Both employed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Prescott, Charles

Both employed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Quinn, Helen R.

Both employed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Randall, Harrison M. (Harrison McAllister), 1870-

Both employed at University of Michigan.

Richter, Burton, 1931-2018

Both employed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Satchler, G. R. (George Raymond)

Both employed at University of Michigan.

Shen, Zhi-Xun

Both employed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Stöhr, Joachim

Both employed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Suits, C. Guy (Chauncey Guy), 1905-1991

Both employed at General Electric Company.

Sullivan, Jeremiah D.

Both employed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Taylor, Richard Edward, 1929-2018

Both employed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Trilling, George H.

Both employed at University of Michigan.

Uhlenbeck, George Eugène, 1900-1988

Both employed at University of Michigan.

Wilkinson, David T.

Both employed at University of Michigan.

Additional

Schwartz, Brian B., 1938-

Wolfenstein, L. (Lincoln)

Institutions

Major Positions

General Electric Company. Research Laboratory

Chemical Engineer.

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Emeritus Professor of Physics.

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

Professor of Physics; Chair, High-Energy Physics Faculty; and Emeritus Professor of Physics.

Stanford University. Department of Physics

Associate Professor of Physics.

University of Michigan. Department of Physics

Instructor to Associate Professor.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

Columbia University. Department of Physics

Obtained PhD (1955).

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

Member.

Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn

Obtained BS in Chemical Engineering (1948).

Wolf Foundation Prizes

Awarded 1982 Wolf Foundation Prize in Physics.

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Oral history interviews. High-Energy Physics. Probes: Psi Discovery - SLAC-SP-017: An Experimental Survey of Positron-Electron Annihilation into Multi-Particle Final States in the S Range 27-74 GeV-Squared, 1991.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Selected talks from the International Conference on the History of Original Ideas and Basic Discoveries in Particle Physics [sound recording] / 1994.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Subject

American Institute of Physics Physics Today division Bertram Schwarzschild Nobel Prize files, 1954-2013.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Brian B. Schwartz papers 1966-1977.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with George H. Trilling, 2006 March 1.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Lincoln Wolfenstein, 1997 April 19.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Published Resources

Author

"The Discovery of the Tau Lepton," in The Rise of the Standard Model: Particle Physics in the 1960s and 1970s, ed. Lillian Hoddeson, Laurie Brown, Michael Riordan, and Max Dresden (New York: Cambridge University Press: 1997), 79-100

High energy hadron physics [by] Martin L. Perl.

Nobel Prize Autobiography.

Physics careers, employment, and education (Penn State, 1977) / editor, Martin L. Perl.

Reflections on experimental science / Martin L. Perl.

Subject

Martin Perl Physics Today obituary.