View source for Leon M. Lederman

{{short description|American mathematician and physicist (1922–2018)}}
{{Infobox scientist
|image            = HD.3F.001 (11086394836).jpg
|caption          = Lederman in 1988
|birth_name       = Leon Max Lederman
|birth_date       = {{birth date|1922|07|15}}
|birth_place      = [[New York City, New York]], U.S. 
|death_date       = {{Death date and age|2018|10|3|1922|07|15}}
|death_place      = [[Rexburg, Idaho]], U.S.
|workplaces       = [[Columbia University]]<br />[[Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory]]<br />[[Illinois Institute of Technology]]<br/>[[University of Chicago]]
|education        = {{ubl|[[City College of New York]] ([[Bachelor's degree|BA]])|[[Columbia University]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])}}
|doctoral_advisor = [[Eugene T. Booth]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Leon M. Lederman|website=Physics Tree|url=https://academictree.org/physics/peopleinfo.php?pid=80979}}</ref>
|known_for        = Seminal contributions to [[neutrino]]s, [[bottom quark]]
|awards           = [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1988)<br />[[Wolf Prize in Physics]] (1982)<br />[[National Medal of Science]] (1965)<br />[[Vannevar Bush Award]] (2012)<br />[[William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement]] (1991) 
|spouse           = Florence Gordon {{small|(divorced)}}<br />Ellen Carr<ref name="Carey2014" />
|field            = [[Physics]]
}}

'''Leon Max Lederman''' (July 15, 1922 – October 3, 2018) was an American experimental physicist who received the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1988, along with [[Melvin Schwartz]] and [[Jack Steinberger]], for research on [[neutrino]]s. He also received the [[Wolf Prize in Physics]] in 1982, along with [[Martin Lewis Perl]], for research on [[quark]]s and [[lepton]]s. Lederman was director emeritus of [[Fermilab|Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory]] (Fermilab) in [[Batavia, Illinois]]. He founded the [[Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy]], in [[Aurora, Illinois]] in 1986, where he was resident scholar emeritus from 2012 until his death in 2018.<ref name="Nobel_biography">{{cite journal|last=Lederman|first=Leon M.|year=1988|editor2-last=Ekspång|editor2-first=Gösta|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1988: Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz, Jack Steinberger|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1988/lederman-facts.html|journal=Nobel Lectures, Physics 1981–1990|access-date=22 May 2012|editor1-first=Tore|editor1-last=Frängsmyr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.fnal.gov/GoldenBooks/gb_lmlsec.html|title=Fermilab History and Archives Project–Golden Books – An Eclectic Reader on Leon M. Lederman|date=2012|website=history.fnal.gov|publisher=[[Fermilab]]|access-date=1 October 2016|archive-date=10 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110111048/http://history.fnal.gov/GoldenBooks/gb_lmlsec.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

An accomplished scientific writer, he became known for his 1993 book ''[[The God Particle (book)|The God Particle]]'' establishing the popularity of the term for the [[Higgs boson]].

==Early life and education==
Lederman was born in New York City, New York, to Morris and Minna (Rosenberg) Lederman.<ref name="HoddesonKolb2009">{{cite book|author1=Lillian Hoddeson|author1-link=Lillian Hoddeson|author2=Adrienne W. Kolb|author2-link=Adrienne Kolb|author3=Catherine Westfall|author3-link=Catherine Westfall|title=Fermilab: Physics, the Frontier, and Megascience|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UXUbesKLjBoC&pg=PA229|date=1 August 2009|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-34625-0|pages=229}}</ref> His parents were [[Ukrainian-Jewish]] immigrants from [[Kyiv]] and [[Odesa]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/research-profile/laureate-lederman|title=Research Profile - Leon Max Lederman|website=www.mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org|date=3 August 2022 }}</ref> Lederman graduated from [[James Monroe High School (New York City)|James Monroe High School]] in the [[South Bronx]],<ref name="Nobelprize">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1988/lederman-bio.html|title=Leon M. Lederman – Biographical|last=Lederman|first=Leon|date=1991|website=Nobelprize.org|access-date=2 October 2016}}</ref> and received his [[bachelor's degree]] from the [[City College of New York]] in 1943.<ref name=Army/>

Lederman enlisted in the [[United States Army]] [[United States Army Signal Corps|Signal Corps]]<ref name=Army>{{cite web|title= Leon Lederman Ph.D. Biography and Interview |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=    https://achievement.org/achiever/leon-lederman-ph-d/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Allen|first= William H.|date=November 1990|title= Leon Lederman: Nobel laureate and Illinois' first science adviser.|url= https://www.lib.niu.edu/1990/ii901114.html|work=Illinois Issues|location=Illinois|publisher=Illinois Issues|access-date=17 August 2025|language=en}}</ref> during [[World War II]], intending to become a physicist after his service.<ref name="autogenerated5">{{Cite book|title=The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question|url=https://archive.org/details/godparticleifthe00lede|url-access=registration|last1=Lederman|first1=Leon|last2=Teresi|first2=Dick|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|year=1993|isbn=9780618711680}}</ref>{{Rp|17}} Following his discharge in 1946, he enrolled at [[Columbia University]]'s graduate school, receiving his [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in 1951.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://physics.columbia.edu/about-us/short-history-columbia-physics|title=A Short History of Columbia Physics|year=2016|website=Department of Physics|publisher=Columbia University in the City of New York|access-date=2 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104092309/http://physics.columbia.edu/about-us/short-history-columbia-physics|archive-date=4 November 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Academic career==
Lederman became a faculty member at Columbia University, and he was promoted to full professor in 1958 as [[Eugene Higgins]] Professor of Physics.<ref name="autogenerated5" />{{Rp|796}} In 1960, on leave from Columbia, he spent time at [[CERN]] in Geneva as a [[Ford Foundation]] Fellow.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Crease |first=Robert P. |date=2024-04-17 |title=Francis James Macdonald Farley. 13 October 1920—16 July 2018 |journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society |volume=77 |pages=185–199 |language=en |doi=10.1098/rsbm.2023.0037 |issn=0080-4606|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=Columbia /> He took an extended leave of absence from Columbia in 1979 to become director of Fermilab.<ref name=ferm>{{cite web|url=https://history.fnal.gov/autobiography.html|title=Fermilab History and Archives – Leon M. Lederman|publisher=FNAL.gov|access-date=October 3, 2018|archive-date=January 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107101630/http://history.fnal.gov/autobiography.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Resigning from Columbia (and retiring from Fermilab) in 1989, he then taught briefly at the [[University of Chicago]].<ref name=UCO>{{cite web|url=https://news.uchicago.edu/story/leon-lederman-nobel-winning-physicist-and-former-fermilab-director-1922-2018|title=Leon Lederman, Nobel-winning physicist and 'visionary' educator, 1922–2018|publisher=[[University of Chicago]]|date=October 3, 2018}}</ref> He then moved to the [[IIT Physics Department|physics department]] of the [[Illinois Institute of Technology]], where he served as the Pritzker Professor of Science.<ref name=UCO/> In 1992, Lederman served as president of the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]].<ref name=AIP>{{cite web|url=https://history.aip.org/phn/11605003.html|title=Leon M. Lederman|publisher=AIP.org|access-date=October 3, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=AAAS Presidents |url=https://www.aaas.org/leadership/presidents}}</ref>

Lederman, rare for a Nobel Prize winning professor, took it upon himself to teach physics to non-physics majors at The University of Chicago.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1988/lederman/26243-interview-transcript-1988-3/|title=Physics for Poets excerpt in interview about The Nobel Prize in Physics 1988|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-11}}</ref>

Lederman served as president of the board of sponsors of the [[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]], and at the time of his death was chair emeritus.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thebulletin.org/about-us/board-of-sponsors-2/|title=Biography: Leon M. Lederman|publisher=The Bulletin.org|access-date=October 3, 2018}}</ref> He also served on the board of trustees for Science Service, now known as [[Society for Science & the Public]], from 1989 to 1992, and was a member of the [[JASON (advisory group)|JASON defense advisory group]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/books/review/16horgan.html|title=Rent-a-Genius|last=Horgan|first=John|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 16, 2006}}</ref> Lederman was also one of the main proponents of the "[[Physics First]]" movement.<ref name="First" /> Also known as "Right-side Up Science" and "Biology Last," this movement seeks to rearrange the current high school science curriculum so that physics precedes chemistry and biology.<ref name="First">{{Cite journal|last=Popkin|first=Gabriel|date=July 2009|title="Physics First" Battles for Acceptance|url=https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200907/physicsfirst.cfm|journal=APS News|volume=18|issue=7|access-date=3 October 2016}}</ref>

Lederman was an early supporter of [[Science Debate 2008]], an initiative to get the then-candidates for president, [[Barack Obama]] and [[John McCain]], to debate the nation's top science policy challenges.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thesciencenetwork.org/media/videos/2/Transcript.pdf|title=Leon Lederman Interview|publisher=The Science Network|access-date=October 3, 2018}}</ref> In October 2010, Lederman participated in the [[USA Science and Engineering Festival]]'s Lunch with a Laureate program where middle and high school students engaged in an informal conversation with a Nobel Prize-winning scientist over a brown-bag lunch.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2010festival/schoolprograms/lunchwithalaureate|title=Lunch with a Laureate|website=USA Science & Engineering Festival|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230053110/http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2010festival/schoolprograms/lunchwithalaureate|archive-date=30 December 2010|url-status=dead|access-date=1 October 2016}}</ref> Lederman was also a member of the [[USA Science and Engineering Festival]]'s advisory board.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usasciencefestival.org/about/advisors|title=USA Science & Engineering Festival–Advisors|date=2016|website=USA Science & Engineering Festival|access-date=1 October 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161002042604/https://www.usasciencefestival.org/about/advisors|archive-date=2 October 2016}}</ref>

==Academic work==
In 1956, Lederman worked on [[Parity (physics)|parity]] violation in weak interactions. [[Richard Garwin|R. L. Garwin]], Leon Lederman, and R. Weinrich modified an existing cyclotron experiment, and they immediately verified the [[parity violation]].<ref>
{{cite journal
 |last1=Garwin |first1=R. L.
 |last2=Lederman |first2=L. M.
 |last3=Weinrich |first3=M.
 |year=1957
 |title=Observations of the Failure of Conservation of Parity and Charge Conjugation in Meson Decays: The Magnetic Moment of the Free Muon
 |journal=[[Physical Review]]
 |volume=105 |issue=4 |pages=1415–1417
 |bibcode=1957PhRv..105.1415G
 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.105.1415
|doi-access=free
 }}</ref> They delayed publication of their results until after [[Chien-Shiung Wu|Wu]]'s group was ready, and the two papers appeared back-to-back in the same physics journal. Among his achievements are the discovery of the [[muon|muon neutrino]] in 1962 and the [[bottom quark]] in 1977.<ref name=nyto/> These helped establish his reputation as among the top particle physicists.<ref name=nyto/>

In 1976, a group of physicists, the [[E288 experiment]] team, led by Lederman announced that a particle with a mass of about 6.0 GeV was being produced by the Fermilab particle accelerator. After taking further data, the group discovered that this particle did not actually exist, and the "discovery" was named "[[Oops-Leon]]" as a pun on the original name, upsilon, and Lederman's first name. The name was reused for the [[upsilon meson]], which the group discovered from subsequent data in 1977 at a higher mass of 9.5 GeV.<ref>{{cite journal |author=J. Yoh |author1-link= |year=1998 |title=The Discovery of the ''b'' Quark at Fermilab in 1977: The Experiment Coordinator's Story |url=http://lss.fnal.gov/archive/1997/conf/Conf-97-432-E.pdf |journal=[[AIP Conference Proceedings]] |volume=424 |pages=29–42 |bibcode=1998AIPC..424...29Y |doi=10.1063/1.55114|osti= 645407}}</ref>

As the director of [[Fermilab]], Lederman was a prominent supporter<ref name="SSC LA Times">{{cite news|last=ASCHENBACH|first=JOY|title=No Resurrection in Sight for Moribund Super Collider : Science: Global financial partnerships could be the only way to salvage such a project. But some feel that Congress delivered a fatal blow.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-12-05-mn-64100-story.html|access-date=16 January 2013|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=1993-12-05|quote=Disappointed American physicists are anxiously searching for a way to salvage some science from the ill-fated superconducting super collider ... "We have to keep the momentum and optimism and start thinking about international collaboration," said Leon M. Lederman, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who was the architect of the super collider plan}}</ref><ref name="HoddesonKolb2003">{{Cite journal|title=Vision to reality: From Robert R. Wilson's frontier to Leon M. Lederman's Fermilab|journal=Physics in Perspective|volume=5|issue=1|pages=67–86|arxiv=1110.0486|author1=Lillian Hoddeson |author2=Adrienne Kolb |quote=Lederman also planned what he saw as Fermilab's next machine, the Superconducting SuperCollider (SSC)|year=2011|doi=10.1007/s000160300003|bibcode=2003PhP.....5...67H|s2cid=118321614}}</ref> of the [[Superconducting Super Collider]] project, which was endorsed around 1983, and was a major proponent and advocate throughout its lifetime.<ref name="Illinois Issues 1987">{{cite news|url=https://www.lib.niu.edu/1987/ii8706tc.html|title=Super competition for superconducting super collider|last=Abbott|first=Charles|date=20 June 1987|work=Illinois Issues|page=18|quote=Lederman, who considers himself an unofficial propagandist for the super collider, said the SSC could reverse the physics brain drain in which bright young physicists have left America to work in Europe and elsewhere.|access-date=1 Oct 2016}}</ref><ref name="Caltech">{{cite journal|last=Kevles|first=Dan|journal=California Institute of Technology "Engineering & Science"|volume=58 no. 2|issue=Winter 1995|pages=16–25|title=Good-bye to the SSC|url=http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/568/1/ES58.2.1995.pdf|access-date=16 January 2013|quote=Lederman, one of the principal spokesmen for the SSC, was an accomplished high-energy experimentalist who had made Nobel Prize-winning contributions to the development of the Standard Model during the 1960s (although the prize itself did not come until 1988). He was a fixture at congressional hearings on the collider, an unbridled advocate of its merits []}}</ref> Also at Fermilab, he oversaw the construction of the [[Tevatron]], for decades the world's highest-energy particle collider.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mag.uchicago.edu/university-news/university-obituaries-35|title=University obituaries|website=The University of Chicago Magazine|language=en|access-date=2020-02-11}}</ref> Lederman later wrote his 1993 [[popular science]] book ''[[The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?]]'' – which sought to promote awareness of the significance of such a project – in the context of the project's last years and the changing political climate of the 1990s.<ref name="Calder 2005">{{cite book|last=Calder|first=Nigel|title=Magic Universe:A Grand Tour of Modern Science|year=2005|pages=369–370|publisher=OUP Oxford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E4NfZ9FDcc8C&q=title+of+a+book&pg=PA370|quote=The possibility that the next big machine would create the Higgs became a carrot to dangle in front of funding agencies and politicians. A prominent American physicist, Leon lederman, advertised the Higgs as The God Particle in the title of a book published in 1993 ...Lederman was involved in a campaign to persuade the US government to continue funding the Superconducting Super Collider... the ink was not dry on Lederman's book before the US Congress decided to write off the billions of dollars already spent|isbn=9780191622359}}</ref> The increasingly moribund project was finally shelved that same year after some $2 billion of expenditures.<ref name="SSC LA Times" /> In ''The God Particle'' he wrote, "The history of atomism is one of reductionism – the effort to reduce all the operations of nature to a small number of laws governing a small number of primordial objects" while stressing the importance of the [[Higgs boson]].<ref name="autogenerated5" />{{Rp|87}}<ref>{{Cite journal|date=3 April 1995|title=Observation of Top Quark Production in [anti-p] and [ p] Collisions with the Collider Detector at Fermilab|journal=Physical Review Letters|volume=74|issue=2626|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.2626|pages=2626–2631|pmid=10057978 | last1 = Abe | first1 = F | last2 = Akimoto | first2 = H | last3 = Akopian | first3 = A |display-authors=etal |arxiv=hep-ex/9503002|bibcode=1995PhRvL..74.2626A|s2cid=119451328}}</ref>

In 1988, Lederman received the [[Nobel Prize for Physics]] along with [[Melvin Schwartz]] and [[Jack Steinberger]] "for the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the [[doublet structure]] of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino".<ref name=Nobel_biography/> Lederman also received the National Medal of Science (1965), the [[Elliott Cresson Medal]] for Physics (1976), the Wolf Prize for Physics (1982) and the [[Enrico Fermi Award]] (1992).<ref name=nyto/> In 1995, he received the [[Chicago History Museum]] "Making History Award" for Distinction in Science Medicine and Technology.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chicagohistory.org/aboutus/from-the-president/MHA_Recipient_List_19952015.pdf|title=Making History Awards, 1995–2015 Honorees|date=2015|website=Chicago History Museum|access-date=4 October 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624012521/http://www.chicagohistory.org/aboutus/from-the-president/MHA_Recipient_List_19952015.pdf|archive-date=24 June 2016}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:HD.3F.002 (11086394916).jpg|thumb|Lederman in May 2007]]

Lederman's best friend during his college years, [[Martin J. Klein]], convinced him of "the splendors of physics during a long evening over many beers".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/nyregion/02klein.html|title=Martin J. Klein, Historian of Physics, Dies at 84|last=Hevesi|first=Dennis|date=1 April 2009|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2 October 2016}}</ref> He was known for his sense of humor in the physics community.<ref name="autogenerated5" />{{Rp|17}} On August 26, 2008, Lederman was video-recorded by a science focused organization called ScienCentral, on the street in New York City, answering questions from passersby.<ref name=street>{{Cite web|url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2008/08/26/street-corner-science-with-leon-lederman|title=Street Corner Science with Leon Lederman|last=Carroll|first=Sean|date=26 August 2008|website=[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]]|access-date=17 April 2009|archive-date=15 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415101446/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2008/08/26/street-corner-science-with-leon-lederman/|url-status=dead}}</ref> He answered questions such as "What is the strong force?" and "What happened before the Big Bang?".<ref name=street/>

He had three children with his first wife, Florence Gordon, and toward the end of his life lived with his second wife, Ellen (Carr), in [[Driggs, Idaho|Driggs]], [[Idaho]].<ref name="Nobelprize" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://411.info/people/Leon-Lederman-Driggs-ID-132837548|title=Leon Lederman in Driggs, ID|date=2 October 2016|website=411|access-date=2 October 2012}}</ref>

Lederman was an [[atheist]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Universe on a T-Shirt: The Quest for the Theory of Everything|date=2005|publisher=Arcade Publishing|isbn=9781559707336|page=195|author=Dan Falk|chapter=What About God?|quote="Physics isn't a religion. If it were, we'd have a much easier time raising money." - Leon Lederman}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://rationalisthumans.blogspot.com/2012/07/its-atheist-particle-actually.html|title=It's the Atheist Particle, actually|last=Gogineni|first=Babu|date=July 10, 2012|website=Rationalist Humans|publisher=Postnoon News|access-date=2 October 2016|quote=Leon Lederman is himself an atheist and he regrets the term, and Peter Higgs who is an atheist too, has expressed his displeasure, but the damage has been done!}}</ref> Lederman began to suffer from memory loss in 2011 and, after struggling with [[healthcare in the United States|medical bills]], he had to sell his Nobel Prize medal for $765,000 to cover the costs in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/health-care/2018/10/4/17936626/leon-lederman-nobel-prize-medical-bills|title=A Nobel Prize-winning physicist sold his medal for $765,000 to pay medical bills|last=Kliff|first=Sarah|date=2018-10-04|website=Vox|access-date=2019-04-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Only in America: Nobel laureate sells his medal to pay medical bills |url=https://pnhp.org/news/only-in-america-nobel-laureate-sells-his-medal-to-pay-medical-bills/#:~:text=Leon%20Lederman%20won%20a%20Nobel,in%20an%20Idaho%20nursing%20home. |access-date=2024-12-02 |website=PNHP |language=en-US}}</ref> He died of complications from dementia on October 3, 2018, at a care facility in [[Rexburg, Idaho]], at the age of 96.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imsa.edu/imsa-announces-passing-of-founder-dr-leon-lederman/|title=IMSA Announces Passing of Founder, Dr. Leon Lederman|website=Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy|access-date=3 October 2018|date=2018-10-03}}</ref><ref name="nyto">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/03/science/leon-lederman-died-particle-accelerators.html|title=Leon Lederman, 96, Explorer (and Explainer) of the Subatomic World, Dies|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2018-10-03|last1=Johnson|first1=George}}</ref>

== Honors and awards ==
* Election to the [[National Academy of Sciences]], 1965.<ref name=ferma>{{cite web|url=https://history.fnal.gov/career_awards.html|title=Leon M. Lederman Career, Discoveries and Awards|publisher=Fermilab.gov|access-date=October 3, 2018|archive-date=January 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118042406/http://history.fnal.gov/career_awards.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[National Medal of Science]], 1965.<ref name=ferma/>
* Election to the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], 1970.<ref name=more>{{cite web|url=https://history.fnal.gov/honorary.html|title=Leon M. Lederman Honorary Degrees and Awards|publisher=Fermlab.gov|access-date=October 3, 2018|archive-date=November 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110111310/http://history.fnal.gov/honorary.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Elliott Cresson Prize of the Franklin Institute, 1976.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.fi.edu/winners/1976/lederman_leon.faw?winner_id=3329|title=Franklin Laureate database|year=2012|website=The Franklin Institute Awards|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025103150/http://www.fi.edu/winners/1976/lederman_leon.faw?winner_id=3329|archive-date=25 October 2012|url-status=dead|access-date=2 October 2016}}</ref>
* [[Wolf Prize in Physics]], 1982.<ref name=ferma/>
* Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]], 1982.<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=  https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}</ref>
* [[Nobel Prize in Physics]], 1988.<ref name=ferma/>
* Election to the [[American Philosophical Society]], 1989.<ref name=more/>
* [[Enrico Fermi Award]] of the [[United States Department of Energy]], 1992.<ref name=ferma/>
* Appointment as a Tetelman Fellow at [[Jonathan Edwards College]], 1994.<ref name=more/>
* Doctor of Humane Letters, [[DePaul University]], 1995.<ref name=more/>
* [[Ordem Nacional do Merito Cientifico]] ([[Brazil]]), 1995.<ref name=more/>
* ''In Praise of Reason'' from the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] (CSICOP), 1996.<ref name="World Congress 1996">{{cite web|url=https://www.csicop.org/sb/show/world_skeptics_congress_draws_over_1200_participants|title=World Skeptics Congress Draws Over 1200 Participants|author-link=Tom Flynn (author)|website=Skeptical Inquirer|publisher=CSICOP|last1=Flynn|first1=Tom|access-date=19 August 2016|date=September 1996}}</ref>
* Medallion, Division of Particles and Fields, Mexican Physical Society, 1999.<ref name=more/>
* [[AAAS Philip Hauge Abelson Prize]], 2000
* Vannevar Bush Prize, 2012.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.fnal.gov/honorary.html|title=Fermilab History and Archives–Leon M. Lederman Honorary Degrees and Awards|date=2012|website=history.fnal.gov|publisher=Fermilab|access-date=October 12, 2016|archive-date=November 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110111310/http://history.fnal.gov/honorary.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Asteroid [[85185 Lederman]], discovered by [[Eric Walter Elst]] at [[La Silla Observatory]] in 1991, was named in his honor.<ref name="jpldata" /> The official {{MoMP|85185|naming citation}} was published by the [[Minor Planet Center]] on January 27, 2013 ({{small|[[Minor Planet Circulars|M.P.C.]] 82401}}).<ref name="MPC-Circulars-Archive" />

==Publications==
* ''The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?'' by Leon M. Lederman, [[Dick Teresi]] ({{ISBN|0-385-31211-3}})
* ''From Quarks to the Cosmos'' by Leon Lederman and [[David Schramm (astrophysicist)|David N. Schramm]] ({{ISBN|0-7167-6012-6}})<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.2810566|title=Review of ''From Quarks to the Cosmos: Tools of Discovery'' by Leon M. Lederman and David N. Schramm |year=1990 |last=Frampton |first=Paul H. |author-link=Paul Frampton|journal=Physics Today |volume=43 |issue=5 |page=82 |bibcode=1990PhT....43e..82L }}</ref>
* ''Portraits of Great American Scientists'' by Leon M. Lederman, et al. ({{ISBN|1-57392-932-8}})
* ''Symmetry and the Beautiful Universe'' by Leon M. Lederman and [[Christopher T. Hill]] ({{ISBN|1-59102-242-8}})<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.2155761|title=Review of ''Symmetry and the Beautiful Universe Symmetry and the Beautiful Universe'' by Leon M. Lederman and [[Christopher T. Hill]] Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY, 2004. $29.00 (363 pp.). ISBN 1-59102-242-8 |year=2005 |last1=Mottola |first1=Emil |journal=Physics Today |volume=58 |issue=11 |pages=53–54 }}</ref>
* "What We'll Find Inside the Atom" by Leon Lederman, an essay he wrote for ''[[Newsweek]]'', September 15, 2008<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/large-hadron-collider-may-explain-atoms-mysteries-88965|title=Large Hadron Collider May Explain Atom's Mysteries|date=2008-09-05|website=Newsweek|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100316164636/http://www.newsweek.com/id/157516|archive-date=16 March 2010|url-status=live|access-date=4 October 2016}}</ref>
* ''Quantum Physics for Poets'' by Leon M. Lederman and [[Christopher T. Hill]] ({{ISBN|978-1616142339}})<ref>{{cite web|title=Review of ''Quantum Physics for Poets'' by Leon M. Lederman and Christopher T. Hill|date=February 7, 2011|website=Publishers Weekly|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781616142339}}</ref>
* ''Beyond the God Particle'' by Leon M. Lederman and [[Christopher T. Hill]] ({{ISBN|978-1616148010}})<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/228983/beyond-the-god-particle-by-leon-m-lederman-and-christopher-t-hill/9781616148010/|title=Beyond the God Particle|last1=Lederman|first1=Leon M.|last2=Hill|first2=Christopher T.|date=October 2013|publisher=Prometheus Books|isbn=9781616148010|access-date=2019-02-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1063/PT.3.2450|title=Review of 2 books: ''Beyond the God Particle'' by Leon M. Lederman and Christopher T. Hill and ''Cracking the Particle Code of the Universe'' by John W. Moffat|year=2014 |last1=Peskin |first1=Michael E. |author-link=Michael Peskin|journal=Physics Today |volume=67 |issue=7 |pages=49–50 |s2cid=120080979 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/leon-lederman/beyond-the-god-particle/|title=Review of ''Beyond the God Particle'' by Leon M. Lederman and Christopher T. Hill|website=Kirkus Reviews|year=2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781616148010|title=Review of ''Beyond the God Particle'' by Leon M. Lederman and Christopher T. Hill|date=July 22, 2013|website=Publishers Weekly}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Jewish Nobel laureates]]

== References and notes ==
{{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="Carey2014">{{cite book
  |author     = Charles W. Carey
  |title      = American Scientists
  |url        = https://books.google.com/books?id=00r9waSNv1cC&pg=PR2
  |date       = 14 May 2014
  |publisher  = Infobase Publishing
  |isbn       = 978-1-4381-0807-0
  |pages      = 223}}</ref>

<ref name=Columbia>{{Cite journal|last1=Charpak|first1=G.|last2=Lederman|first2=L.M.|last3=Sens|first3=J.C.|last4=Zichichi|first4=A.|date=1960-08-01|title=A method for trapping muons in magnetic fields, and its application to a redetermination of the EDM of the muon|journal=Il Nuovo Cimento|language=en|volume=17|issue=3|pages=288–303|doi=10.1007/BF02860257|bibcode=1960NCim...17..288C|s2cid=122283775}}</ref>

<ref name="jpldata">{{cite web
  |title      = JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 85185 Lederman (1991 LM3)
  |url        = https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2085185
  |publisher  = [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]]
  |access-date = 20 January 2020}}</ref>

<ref name="MPC-Circulars-Archive">{{cite web
  |title      = MPC/MPO/MPS Archive
  |work       = Minor Planet Center
  |url        = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/MPCArchive_TBL.html
  |access-date = 20 January 2020}}</ref>

}} <!-- end of reflist -->

==External links==
*{{Commons category inline}}
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/the-science-studio/robert Education, Politics, Einstein and Charm] ''The Science Network'' interview with Leon Lederman
* [http://ed.fnal.gov/samplers/hsphys/people/lederman.html Fermilab's Leon M. Lederman webpage]
* {{Nobelprize}}
* [http://nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/index.php?id=411 Video Interview with Lederman from the Nobel Foundation]
* [http://www.nobel-winners.com/Physics/leon_max_lederman.html Timeline of Nobel Prize Winners in Physics webpage for Leon Max Lederman]
* [http://ed.fnal.gov/lml/Leon_life.html ''Story of Leon'' by Leon Lederman]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20171121110032/http://www.honeywellscience.com/  Honeywell – Nobel Interactive Studio]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121025103150/http://www.fi.edu/winners/1976/lederman_leon.faw?winner_id=3329 1976 Cresson Medal recipient] from The [[Franklin Institute]]
* [https://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR19/Session/J03 Honoring Leon Lederman] at APS April 2019
* {{YouTube|title=The Singing Janitor – Leon Lederman|id=hTPChimlT_o}}
* {{INSPIRE-HEP author}}
* [http://history.fnal.gov/findingaids/Lederman_ibatf2015001.html Finding Aid to the Leon M. Lederman Papers] at [[Fermilab]]

{{Presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science}}
{{Wolf Prize in Physics}}
{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1976–2000}}
{{1988 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lederman, Leon}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:Jewish American atheists]]
[[Category:American atheists]]
[[Category:American Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:20th-century American physicists]]
[[Category:American skeptics]]
[[Category:City College of New York alumni]]
[[Category:Columbia University alumni]]
[[Category:Columbia University faculty]]
[[Category:Enrico Fermi Award recipients]]
[[Category:American experimental physicists]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Illinois Institute of Technology faculty]]
[[Category:Jewish American physicists]]
[[Category:Members of JASON (advisory group)]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Military personnel from New York City]]
[[Category:National Medal of Science laureates]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physics]]
[[Category:American particle physicists]]
[[Category:People associated with CERN]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Great Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit (Brazil)]]
[[Category:Scientists from New York City]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:Wolf Prize in Physics laureates]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:People associated with Fermilab]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:James Monroe High School (New York City) alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science]]
[[Category:Jewish Nobel laureates]]