Burton J. Moyer

Burton Jones Moyer (February 24, 1912 – April 21, 1973) was an American nuclear physicist known as "The Father of Accelerator Health Physics" for his seminal work in shielding design and safety procedures used in the operation of many large particle accelerators. He is notable for the discovery of the neutral pi meson.

Moyer was a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley, California; a researcher in high energy, particle, and nuclear physics at the UC Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (officially named Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 1995); and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon at Eugene, Oregon. He also consulted and advised at other research and educational institutions and government agencies including the National Science Foundation and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).

During World War II, Moyer worked in connection with the Manhattan Project, for a time at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and later at the Lawrence Radiation Lab at Berkeley. He was a pioneer in the area of Health Physics with a focus on shielding and protection from the dangers of exposure to radiation for those working in nuclear research.

In 1947, Ernest Lawrence asked Moyer to oversee radiation protection activities at the Radiation Lab at Berkeley. Moyer’s contributions were instrumental in ensuring the safety of researchers. Notably, in 1962, he implemented shielding modifications at the bevatron—one of the large particle accelerators at the laboratory—reducing radiation intensities by a factor of 100. His innovative approach incorporating specialized shielding and frequent measurement of radiation levels in the work environment became known as the “Moyer Model” and is frequently applied in the construction and operation of nuclear particle accelerators around the world. Moyer directed the Health Physics activities at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory until 1970.

In 1985 the Northern California Chapter of the Health Physics Society established the Burton J. Moyer Memorial Fellowship to memorialize Moyer and to encourage his ideals in the study of the safe use of radiation for the benefit of all people.