Burton Richter (born March 22, 1931) is a Nobel Prize-winning American physicist. A native of New York City, he attended MIT, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1952 and his Ph.D. in 1956. He was director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) from 1984 to 1999.
As a professor at Stanford University, Richter built a particle accelerator called SPEAR (Stanford Positron-Electron Asymmetric Ring) with the help of David Ritson and the support of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. With it he discovered a new subatomic particle he called a psi particle (now called a J/ψ particle).
The same discovery was made independently by Samuel Ting and the two scientists were jointly awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work.
Richter currently serves on the board of advisors of Scientists and Engineers for America, an organization focused on promoting sound science in American government.