Professional Interests
During a remarkable career spanning more than five decades, Prof. Lederman's research has ranged the gamut
of subatomic-particle physics from meson studies through pioneering experiments with neutrino beams to the discovery of the third generation of
quarks.
He shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics (with Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger) for the 1962 discovery that there are two kinds of
neutrino, one associated with the electron and another with the muon.
He has received numerous other awards and honorary
degrees as well. He continues his participation in research as a member of the
IIT High Energy Physics group.
In recent years much of his attention has been devoted to improving science and
mathematics education. He was instrumental in
founding the
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, and
he co-founded the Teachers Academy for Mathematics
and Science, which during its twelve years of operation taught Chicago primary-school teachers improved ways to teach
science. It was copied in France (thanks largely to the efforts of Georges
Charpak) and spread to many
countries including China, Egypt, and Brazil. He now co-chairs a
Congressionally mandated national Commission on 21st Century Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, run by the
National Science Board.
He is the author of several books, including
From Quarks to the Cosmos (with David Schramm), Symmetry and the Beautiful Universe (with Christopher Hill), and perhaps the most entertaining book yet written about
High Energy Physics, The God Particle, (with Dick Teresi) now available from Dell Paperbacks.
Representative Publications
- "Comparison of Different Commercial Wireless Keypad Systems," Ray A. Burnstein and Leon M. Lederman,
The Physics Teacher, Vol. 41 No. 5, p. 272 (May 2003)
- ”Revolution in Science Education: Put Physics First," Leon
Lederman, Physics Today, Vol. 54 No. 9, p. 44 (September 2001)
- ”Using Wireless Keypads in Lecture Classes," Ray A. Burnstein
and Leon M. Lederman, The Physics Teacher, Vol. 39 No. 1, p. 8 (January
2001)
- "Nuclear Dependence of Neutral D-Meson Production by 800
GeV/c Protons," M. J. Leitch et al., Physical Review Letters, 72,
2542 (1994)
- "Observation of High-Energy Neutrino Reactions and the Existence of Two Kinds of Neutrinos,"
G. Danby, J. M. Gaillard, K. Goulianos, L. M. Lederman, N. B. Mistry, M. Schwartz, J. Steinberger,
Physical Review Letters 9, 36 (1962)
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