\n John Peoples in 2009. The former director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia has died.
\n Courtesy of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory\n <\/p>\n
John Peoples was asked in the mid-1990s about the value of doing pure scientific research \u2014 that which has no predetermined benefit.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowledge is a form of wealth,\u201d he replied. \u201cIt is an investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peoples was the director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory at the time, charged with overseeing spending hundreds of millions of dollars researching particle physics. It was just after the Batavia-based laboratory was receiving worldwide acclaim for its role in discovering the top quark.<\/p>\n
He died June 25, at age 92, according to an announcement from Fermilab.<\/p>\n
Peoples was the laboratory\u2019s third director, serving from 1989 to 1999.<\/p>\n
He came to the young lab in 1971 on a sabbatical from Columbia University to work on a photoproduction experiment. In 1973, the founding director, Robert Wilson, appointed him head of the proton beamline, and in 1975, he officially joined the lab as head of its research division.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Wilson Hall, right, and the Integrated Engineering Research Center at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia.
\n Courtesy of Fermilab\/Ryan Postel\n <\/p>\n
He led the design and construction of an antiproton source that collected and stored more antiprotons than any other facility in the world. In 1987, he became deputy lab director, serving under Leon Lederman.<\/p>\n
Peoples was a leader during the run of the legendary Tevatron accelerator<\/a>, which contributed to the discovery of the top quark in March 1995. He also started an astrophysics program.<\/p>\n \u201cAchieving great science requires great leadership, and John Peoples was that. His passion and dedication to physics and astrophysics led to significant contributions in Fermilab\u2019s history,\u201d Young-Kee Kim, interim lab director, said in the news release. \u201cHe worked continually to maintain support from local, state and federal levels for Fermilab, helping secure funding for the Main Injector upgrade, which was significant to the lab’s rich science program since the 2000s.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJohn was a great leader,\u201d said former Fermilab scientist Steve Holmes. \u201cHe was director during a very critical period, when the Tevatron<\/a> accelerator really came to the forefront.\u201d<\/p>\n Holmes also credited Peoples for realizing the Tevatron program would end (it did, in 2011) and that the Main Injector \u201cwould become the future of the lab. If not for this insight, Fermilab and the U.S. would not have an accelerator-based high-energy physics program today,\u201d Holmes said.<\/p>\n