Leon Max Lederman was born in New York, in 1922. He was the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants. He studied Chemistry at City College of New York, receiving his BS in 1943. Following three years in the army, he began studying Physics at Columbia University, earning his Master's in 1948 and his Ph.D. in 1951. He stayed on at Columbia following his studies, remaining for nearly thirty years.

The many awards and honors he has received include the National Medal for Science in 1965 and the Wolf Prize in Physics in 1983. He is a past chairman and president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. A firm believer of the advancement of science education, Lederman, as director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia Ill., opened it to countries not previously associated with high-energy physics. He is the driving force behind the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, the first statewide public school for gifted children, and the Teacher's Academy of Mathematics and Science in Chicago.

In 1976, a new atomic particle, know as upsilon, is detected by American scientists at the Fermi N. A. Laboratory, which was still headed by Leon Lederman at the time. The particle is thought to belong to a new family of atomic fragments named psions.