Late last year, TRIUMF Director Dr. Jonathan Bagger joined colleagues at the Institute for Nuclear Theory at the University of Washington (UW-INT) to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish the Richard E. Taylor Postdoctoral Fellowship, a new joint postdoctoral fellowship position in the field of nuclear theory.
The Fellowship commemorates the work of late American-Canadian physicist and Nobel laureate, Dr. Richard ‘Dick’ E. Taylor, who, alongside colleagues Dr. Jerome Friedman and Dr. Henry Kendall, was awarded the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics for demonstrating that protons and neutrons are composed of quarks.
<image: Dr. Richard "Dick" E. Taylor via Wikimedia Commons>
Taylor earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees at the University of Alberta (one of TRIUMF's first member universities) before joining the High Energy Physics Laboratory at Stanford University to complete his Ph.D. Taylor was elected a Member of the US National Academy of Science in 1993, a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1997, and appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada (the highest level of the Order of Canada) in 2005.
Bagger and Taylor spoke about the creation of the fellowship before Taylor passed away in February of 2018.
“Dick Taylor was a gifted experimenter, a proud Albertan, and a giant of modern physics,” said Bagger. “While at Stanford, he reached out to help TRIUMF at critical moments of our history. I am delighted to honour his memory with this Fellowship, and I look forward to all the great physics that will come from this new collaboration with our colleagues at the University of Washington.”
“The Richard E. Taylor Postdoctoral Fellowship provides a unique opportunity for a young theoretical physicist to participate in the activities of the premier Canadian experimental facilities at TRIUMF and the US national center for nuclear theory at the Institute for Nuclear Physics at the University of Washington,” said Dr. Larry McLerran, Director of the Institute for Nuclear Theory. “We expect that such an opportunity will attract the world's top young nuclear theorists.”
Bagger also highlighted that this joint position is an excellent opportunity to foster academic relationships along the Cascadia Innovation Corridor.
“The Richard E. Taylor Fellowship will advance the important relationship between our two institutions and help develop new and exciting avenues for international collaboration,” said Bagger. “The TRIUMF community is delighted to be a part of this partnership and looks forward to the exciting opportunities this position will bring.”
Learn more about Dr. Richard “Dick” E. Taylor here and here.
Learn more about TRIUMF's award, fellowship, and exchange opportunities here.