Jewish Nobel Prize winner who coined term ‘God particle’ dies aged 96
Experimental physicist Leon Lederman, who was described as a giant in his field, passes away at a nursing home
Leon Lederman, an experimental physicist who won a Nobel Prize in physics for his work on subatomic particles and coined the phrase God particle, has died aged 96.
Ellen Carr Lederman, his wife of 37 years, said her husband died on Wednesday at a nursing home in the Idaho town of Rexburg.
Mr Lederman, who was Jewish and the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, directed the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago from 1978 to 1989.
He is described as a giant in his field who also had a passion for sharing science, resulting in his book, The God Particle.
The title refers to a subatomic particle long theorised until a powerful particle collider confirmed its existence.
The couple bought a vacation home in Driggs, Idaho, in 1991 with his 1988 Nobel Prize money and moved there full-time in 2011.
The Nobel Prize he won sold for 765,000 dollars in 2015.
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