Dr. Lee Grodzins, Cornerstones of Science Founder and Professor Emeritus of Physics at MIT, died on March 6, 2025, at the age of 98.
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, the child of immigrants from the Pale, Lee grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire. He worked his way through the University of New Hampshire, took night classes for his MS from Union College while working at GE Labs building cosmic ray detectors, then received his Ph.D. in Physics from Purdue University.
In 1957, while working as a researcher in nuclear physics at Brookhaven National Lab, he made the first measurement of the negative helicity of the neutrino. The experiment is considered so important that there was a conference in 2007 to honor its 50th anniversary. Between 1957 and 2019 he would publish over 150 scientific papers.
From 1959 to 1998, he was a Professor of Physics at MIT. There, he directed over twenty doctoral dissertations (in the process mentoring multiple women in physics, at a time when women in STEM were rare), and the undergraduate thesis of Sidney Altman, who decades later won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 1969, Lee was a founding member of the Union of Concerned Scientists, and served as its Chairman in 1970 and 1972. Lee also played a significant role in bringing the first Chinese graduate students to MIT, when relations between the US and PRC thawed in the 1970s.
Lee was a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the recipient of Guggenheim Fellowships in 1964-1965 and 1971-1972; and was a Senior von Humboldt Fellow in 1980-1981. In 1998, Lee received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Purdue University. In 2014, LNS and the MIT Physics Department established the Lee Grodzins Postdoctoral Fellows Lecture Award, to recognize the importance of work by postdoctoral scientists within experimental nuclear and particle physics. And, in 1999, Lee founded a non-profit called Cornerstones of Science, dedicated to promoting STEM education.
In addition to his many academic, scientific, and industrial achievements, Lee was a cheerful, optimistic man, and was always ready to lend a hand. He made many, many dear friends over the course of his long life — he will be dearly missed.
You might also like to read MIT’s tribute to Lee.
Lee dedicated his life to the belief that, in this rapidly changing world, strengthening library abilities can strengthen community life. By connecting people with science and technology, we stimulate lifelong learning and increase their ability to make informed decisions in their economic, civic, and cultural pursuits. While we mourn his loss, we also honor Lee’s legacy by continuing the work he so passionately championed. In tribute to Lee’s life and mission, we invite you to support this cause through donations, ensuring that his vision lives on. Please consider making a contribution to Cornerstones of Science here to help carry forward the work that meant so much to him.
