Companion of the Order of Canada

• Awarded on: June 29, 2005
• Invested on: February 17, 2006

Richard Taylor helped usher in a new era in particle physics. A graduate of the University of Alberta, in the early 1950s, he continued his studies at Stanford University. After earning his doctorate he became a key member of a group of scientists who worked on the construction of Stanford's two mile linear accelerator. During the 1960s, he helped to develop sophisticated experimental apparatus for electron scattering experiments that discovered tiny constituents inside the proton - the first experimental sighting of the "quarks" that are now seen as the basic building blocks of matter. In 1990, his ground-breaking research earned him the Nobel Prize for Physics and his international eminence as a scientist remains undisputed.