physics

Richard Latter

Richard Latter is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Richard Latter rather than just read about it. In short: Richard Latter (20 February 1923 – 2 December 1999) was a theoretical physicist, who was famous for his political involvement in the United States during the Cold War, where he warned against MIRVs developed in Soviet Russia, by which arms-reduction treaties could be evaded. Life Richard Latter was born in Chicago in 1923.

Key takeaways

Richard Latter belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Richard Latter to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Richard Latter from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Richard Latter (20 February 1923 – 2 December 1999) was a theoretical physicist, who was famous for his political involvement in the United States during the Cold War, where he warned against MIRVs developed in Soviet Russia, by which arms-reduction treaties could be evaded.

Life Richard Latter was born in Chicago in 1923. In World War II, he served in the US Navy. He studied physics graduated from the California Institute of Technology, where he graduated in 1942, and received a doctorate in theoretical physics in 1949. After graduation, he started working for RAND in California, where he became head of the physics department in 1956. In 1960 his brother, physicist Albert L. Latter, took his place, and he joined the RAND Research Council. In 1971, he founded RDA (R&D Associates) with other physicists (his brother among them). Latter was married twice, and had three sons from his first marriage—one of them, Richard James Latter, died in 1990—and a daughter from his second marriage. By the end of his life, he lived in McLean, Virginia, where he died in 1999 of lung cancer.

Notable Achievements In the early 1960s, Latter had the idea of Multiple Independently targetable Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs) which, as he later realized, was already thought of—and put into use—in Soviet Russia. By alerting the White House, the US soon developed its own MIRVs, and balance was retained. He was a member of the US delegation to the Conference for the Discontinuance of Nuclear Weapons Tests on Geneva and a science adviser to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT). Latter also helped work with Soviet scientists at the Geneva conference to develop what would later become a treaty against testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere (1964).

Publications Latter, Richard (1964-10-15). "Solutions of the Thomas—Fermi—Dirac Statistical Model of Atoms". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 41 (8). AIP Publishing: 2275–2279. Bibcode:1964JChPh..41.2275L. doi:10.1063/1.1726259. ISSN 0021-9606. Latter, Richard (1955). "Similarity Solution for a Spherical Shock Wave". Journal of Applied Physics. 26 (8). AIP Publishing: 954–960. Bibcode:1955JAP....26..954L. doi:10.1063/1.1722144. ISSN 0021-8979. Latter, Richard (1956). "Thomas‐Fermi Model of Compressed Atoms". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 24 (2). AIP Publishing: 280–292. Bibcode:1956JChPh..24..280L. doi:10.1063/1.1742464. ISSN 0021-9606.

References Bernstein, Adam (6 December 1999). "Theoretical Physicist Richard Latter". Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-02-07. Brode, Harold L. (2000). "Richard Latter". Physics Today. 53 (4). AIP Publishing: 83–84. doi:10.1063/1.883065. ISSN 0031-9228.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard Latter

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard Latter claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Richard Latter before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Richard Latter ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Richard Latter

In research: Richard Latter appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Richard Latter in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Richard Latter is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1923 births, 1999 deaths, 20th-century American physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard Latter outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Richard Latter in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Richard Latter means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Richard Latter out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard Latter in simple terms?

Why does Richard Latter matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Richard Latter?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Richard Latter.