Memories of Professor Paul Richards

Paul Richards 3 B&W photos

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Warren Holmes, one of Paul’s physics students graduate students

As a parent, I am grateful for the opportunity and support he offered my son, Warren Holmes, a physicist for over 25 years.

~Judith Holmes


Remembering Paul

I had the great fortune to work with Paul when I started in the Physics PhD program. I learned so much from him, including tons of practical knowledge in instrument fabrication, and of course some glimpses into how he thought of experimental Physics. Was a true honor to be an associate.

~R. David Britt


I first met Paul on a train to Boston, on our way to start our freshman year at Harvard, where we both became physics majors. We then applied to be roomates as sophomores, but were instead assigned rooms on adjoining floors. Upon graduation (each summa cum laude), Paul went to UC Berkeley. and I traveled in Europe. The next year I joined him in Berkeley, spending lots of time in his laboratory learning about how to build and run experiments. We each were later recruited to Bell Laboratories, where finally Paul and I were able to share a residence. When Paul was recruited to the Berkeley faculty, and changed research fields, we were never again in contact.

Relevant to Paul's outstanding skills with building and operating equipment, and also to his acquisition of a vineyard and passion for wine-making, is the fact that his father was a professor of agronomy at UC Riverside, who invented devices to measure soil moisture.

~Richard Werthamer


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