Peter Meyer, 82; Physicist Studied Cosmic Rays

Peter Meyer, a University of Chicago physicist who conducted studies on cosmic rays, died Thursday in Chicago following a stroke. He was 82.

Meyer began his career teaching at the University of Gottingen in Germany after World War II and later was a fellow at Cambridge University in England. He came to the United States in 1953, and first worked as a research associate in the University of Chicago’s Institute for Nuclear Studies.

He joined the University of Chicago faculty in 1956 and taught until his retirement in 1990.

Meyer directed the prestigious Enrico Fermi Institute from 1978 until 1983, and chaired the university’s physics department from 1986 to 1989.

The physicist spent decades studying cosmic rays, the particles that rain onto Earth from outer space.

His research culminated with a 2 1/2-ton instrument that flew aboard the Challenger space shuttle in 1985, gathering data on the composition of cosmic rays at extreme energies.