Leon Lederman, American Physicist
Lab Director Lederman with pipe in front of blackboard with beamline and budget. Leon Max Lederman (born July 15, 1922) is an American experimental physicist. Among his achievements are the discovery of the muon neutrino in 1962 and the bottom quark in 1977. He received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1988, along with Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger, for their research on neutrinos. He is Director Emeritus of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). He founded the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, in Aurora, Illinois in 1986, and has served in the capacity of Resident Scholar since 1998. He is one of the main proponents of the "Physics First" movement, an educational program that teaches a basic physics course in the 9th grade, rather than the biology course which is more standard in public schools. Proponents argue that turning this order around lays the foundations for better understanding of chemistry, which in turn will lead to more comprehension of biology. In 2012, he was awarded the Vannevar Bush Award for his extraordinary contributions to understanding the basic forces and particles of nature. Photographed February 23, 1983.
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