About Leon M. Lederman

Internationally renowned high-energy physicist Leon M. Lederman led a wide-range of experiments that contributed significantly to what is known as "The Standard Model." A Columbia University professor and researcher, Lederman focused his sights on research at facilities with the highest energies. His major experiments included the observation of parity violation in decay of pi and mu mesons, the discovery of the long-lived neutral kaon, the discovery of two kinds of neutrinos, and the discovery of the upsilon particle, which provided the first evidence for the bottom quark. Dr. Lederman was the Director of Fermilab from 1979 to 1989. As Fermilab director, Lederman brought the Energy Doubler/Saver to completion, and the Main Ring into the Tevatron era. He has received numerous awards including the Nobel Prize in Physics (1988) and the DOE's 1992 Enrico Fermi Prize. A passionate advocate for science education Lederman has founded a number of education and outreach programs at Fermilab and beyond. He is a founder of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, the Teachers Academy for Mathematics and Science in Chicago, and is presently co-chairman of a national commission on 21 st century math and science education.