Robert A. H. van der Meer

Robert A. H. van der Meer was a Dutch physicist renowned for his work in particle physics. He, along with Carlo Rubbia, developed a technique called stochastic cooling, which was vital for controlling the movement of particle beams in large accelerators. This innovation enabled scientists to accelerate particles more precisely, leading to the discovery of the W and Z bosons—fundamental particles that support the Standard Model of physics. Van der Meer's contributions significantly advanced our understanding of subatomic particles and earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1984.