Martin L. Perl (1927-2014)

摘要

The tau lepton, a subatomic particle uncovered by Martin Lewis Perl, was one of the biggest surprises in elementary particle physics in recent decades. Perl discovered this third type of lepton (the other two types are the lighter electrons and muons) at a time when there was no experimental evidence for its existence or any theoretical indication that a third 'family' of particles should exist. Perl, who died on 30 September at the age of 87, was born in 1927 in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrants from Poland. Through determination and hard work, his father had established a printing and advertising company that sustained the family throughout the depression of the 1930s. Perl once reflected that his parents' high expectations - they demanded that he achieve A grades in every course - "was good training for research, because large parts of experimental work are sometimes boring or involve the use of skills in which one is not particularly gifted".