  Since its launch in 2009, the Kepler telescope has found thousands of planets
with radii between that of Earth and Neptune. Recent studies of the
distribution of these planets have revealed a rift in the population near
1.5-2.0$R_{\bigoplus}$, informally dividing these planets into "super-Earths"
and "sub-Neptunes". The origin of this division is not well understood, largely
because the majority of planets found by Kepler orbit distant, dim stars and
are not amenable to radial velocity follow-up or transit spectroscopy, making
bulk density and atmospheric measurements difficult. Here, we present the
discovery and validation of a newly found $2.03^{+0.08}_{-0.07}~R_{\bigoplus}$
planet in direct proximity to the radius gap, orbiting the bright
($J=8.32$~mag), nearby ($D=44.5$~pc) high proper motion star Wolf 503 (EPIC
212779563). We classify Wolf 503 as a K3.5V star and member of the thick disc
population. We determine the possibility of a companion star and false positive
detection to be extremely low using both archival images and high-contrast
adaptive optics images from the Palomar observatory. The brightness of the host
star makes Wolf 503b a prime target for prompt radial velocity follow-up, HST
transit spectroscopy, as well as detailed atmospheric characterization with
JWST. With its measured radius near the gap in the planet radius and occurrence
rate distribution, Wolf 503b offers a key opportunity to better understand the
origin of this radius gap as well as the nature of the intriguing populations
of "super-Earths" and "sub-Neptunes" as a whole.
