Leon Lederman, HyperCP collaborator and Nobel laureate, dies

Leon Lederman, who received the Nobel prize for the discovery of the muon neutrino, who discovered the bottom quark, and whose career spanned almost the entire history of high energy physics, died. He was the second director of Fermilab, serving from 1979 to 1989.

He was a collaborator on HyperCP, an experiment for which I had the hone of serving as co-spokespeson, and was not simply a titular name on the masthead, but attended meetings and made at least one important contribution to the design of the experiment. The only time I had the chance to fondle a Nobel medal was at his house on the Fermilab site, not far from the Tevatron. Leon and Ellen, his wife, had invited the HyperCP collaboration to a party at his house, where we were regally entertained.

For more information on Leon and his career, see the article here.