Richard E. Taylor

Interview

Interview, August 2008

Interview with the 1990 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Richard E. Taylor, in August 2008. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief of Nobelprize.org.

Richard Taylor explains how an experiment with gun powder redirected his academic career, how he “didn’t graduate from high school and was thrown out of the honors program” at university but ended up at Stanford (5:35), and how constructing the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) lead to the work for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize (18:30). He also describes the historical context of the Deep and Elastic experiments which confirmed the presence of quarks (24:23), the professional pride he takes in his parity experiments (51:40), and his penchant for making lists (1:21:25).

To cite this section
MLA style: Richard E. Taylor – Interview. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Fri. 22 Nov 2024. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1990/taylor/interview/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Nobel Prizes and laureates

Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.

See them all presented here.

Illustration

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.