33 Quotes by Burton Richter

So now, if we don't fund the physical sciences, where will the Next Big Thing come from?

I've become interested in the impact of climate change on the world and the future of energy needs for the developing world.

What struck me first on reading the Ten Hoeve-Jacobson paper was how small the consequences of the radiation release from the Fukushima reactor accident are projected to be compared to the devastation wrought by the giant earthquake and tsunami.

During my years at the synchrotron laboratory, I had become interested in the theory of quantum electrodynamics and had decided that what I would most like to do after completing my dissertation work was to probe the short-distance behavior of the electromagnetic interaction.

Total failure isn't something I want to spend a lot of time envisioning. I'm pretty sure I'll recognize it if it comes.

As accelerators reach higher and higher energies, we may need a new Standard Model, or, at least, today's may need to be modified, but that's the way science operates.

What I found was that I thoroughly enjoyed the plumbing of experiment.

What we're really after is trying to understand what's in the mind of God.

I got no thrill from solving an integral equation, but I did get a thrill from building an exotic piece of equipment that worked.