NewsClick

NewsClick
  • हिन्दी
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Covid-19
  • Science
  • Culture
  • India
  • International
  • Sports
  • Articles
  • Videos
search
menu

INTERACTIVE ELECTION MAPS

image/svg+xml
  • All Articles
  • Newsclick Articles
  • All Videos
  • Newsclick Videos
  • हिन्दी
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Science
  • Culture
  • India
  • Sports
  • International
  • Africa
  • Latin America
  • Palestine
  • Nepal
  • Pakistan
  • Sri Lanka
  • US
  • West Asia
About us
Subscribe
Follow us Facebook - Newsclick Twitter - Newsclick RSS - Newsclick
close menu
×
For latest updates on nCOVID-19 around the world visit our INTERACTIVE COVID MAP
Science
Politics
International
US

US Nobel Winner, Who Sold His Medal to Meet Medical Bills, Dies

Leon Lederman had to auction his Nobel medal for physics to meet sky-high healthcare costs.
Newsclick Report
06 Oct 2018
Leon Lederman

Image Courtesy : WTTW Chicago

On October 3, Leon Lederman passed away at the age of 96 after suffering from several years of dementia, which includes memory loss. He had won the physics Nobel Prize back in 1988 for the discovery of a sub-atomic particle called muon neutrino.

What makes the passing away of one of the giants of particle physics so poignant is that, in 2015, he had to auction his coveted Nobel medal because he couldn’t afford medical bills and care. He and his wife got $765,000 in the auction – and that’s how Lederman survived for a few years more.

“What he really loved was people, trying to educate them and help them understand what they were doing in science,” said Ellen Carr Lederman, his wife of 37 years, AP reported.

Born in 1922 to Ukranian immigrant parents, Lederman fought in World War II and then finished his PhD from Columbia University. He went on to become one of the giants in the newly developing field of sub-atomic particles. He was director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, popularly known as Fermi Lab, managed by the University of Chicago.

“He made extraordinary contributions to our understanding of the basic forces and particles of nature,” Michael Turner, a professor at the University of Chicago, said in a statement. “But he was also a leader far ahead of his time in science education, in serving as an ambassador for science around the world, and transferring benefits of basic research to the national good.”

Lederman’s 1993 book, The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?, made him famous and also gave the popular, though misconceived, moniker to the Higgs boson which was ultimately discovered in 2012.

The Stark Reality of Healthcare in US

But why did such an eminent person have to sell off his priceless Nobel medal?

After getting the Nobel along with  Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger in 1988, Lederman bought a log cabin near the tiny town of Driggs in eastern Idaho with the prize money. He and his wife used to go skiing and horse riding while camping there. They moved in permanently in 2011 after he started having memory problems, a sign of dementia.

But the US system of healthcare, based largely on the insurance model that is now being pushed in India, couldn’t provide for his needs. Care for patients like Lederman and treatment in nursing homes is barely covered by private insurance – and Lederman couldn’t do without it.

So, he and his wife publicly auctioned off the Nobel medal. This helped them meet the mounting costs for specialised care that Lederman needed.

Medical costs in the US are reported to be one of the highest in the world. For instance, a single day’s stay in hospital would cost $5220 in the US compared with $765 in Australia, $424 in Spain and almost negligible in the UK (which provides state-sponsored universal healthcare free of cost to all residents). Most experts and activists point out that this high cost of healthcare in US is because of the nexus of two dominant private/corporate players – the insurance companies and the pharma companies.

For Indians, the Lederman story is yet another pointer of the ills of an insurance-based model of healthcare that has recently been rolled out by the corporate-friendly Narendra Modi government.

Get the latest reports & analysis with people's perspective on Protests, movements & deep analytical videos, discussions of the current affairs in your Telegram app. Subscribe to NewsClick's Telegram channel & get Real-Time updates on stories, as they get published on our website.
Leon Lederman
Nobel Prize
USA
Health Expenses
Healthcare cost
Health Insurance Model
Modicare
Related Stories
Assassination of Nuclear Scientist

Assassination of Nuclear Scientist is a Bid to Provoke Iran into Conflict

China

China Is Working to Expand Its Ties to Latin America

Trump or Biden

US Election Result: Race goes Down to the Wire

Modi Govt Caves in to US Diktat on Iran Oil

The American Election: Federal Experiences of Two Democracies

COVID India and USA

COVID-19: Competition Between India and US?

Winners of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2020 at a press conference in Stockholm, Monday Oct. 12, 2020. Americans Paul R. Milgrom, left, and Robert B. Wilson have won the Nobel Prize in economics for "improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.

2 Stanford Economists Win Nobel Prize for Auction Theory

Why Is Trump Not Facing Impeachment Over COVID-19?

Why Is Trump Not Facing Impeachment Over COVID-19?

The U.S. Is Borrowing

The U.S. Is Borrowing Its Way to Fascism

Nixon

Nixon Tapes, Racism and India's Leanings Towards US

COVID-19 Vaccine

COVID-19 Vaccine: Emergency Use Authorisation?

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsAppShare via EmailShare on RedditShare on KindlePrint
Share
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsAppShare via EmailShare on RedditShare on KindlePrint
Share

Related Stories

Sonali Kolhatkar

In America, Business Profits Come First Over the Pandemic

10 January 2021
Los Angeles, California, is now considered one of the worst COVID-19 hotspots in the nation.
Peoples Dispatch

A Victory for Assange but Long Battle Ahead

05 January 2021
Hundreds of people, who had gathered outside the London Central Criminal Court, celebrated the denial of the US plea to extradite Julian Assange.
Vijay Prashad

Donald Trump’s Final Act: Snuffing Out the Promise of Democracy in the Middle East

19 December 2020
Ten years ago, a hawker in Tunisia set himself on fire, which 

Pagination

  • Next page ››

More

  • 100 Former Civil Servants Raise Questions on Transparency in PM-CARES Fund

    100 Former Civil Servants Raise Questions on Transparency in PM-CARES Fund

  • bAgpat.

    Farmers' Protest: Western UP Khap Leaders Plan to Block Loni Border From January 17

  • Andhra Pradesh: Anantapur Farmers Protest Against Real Estate on Land Acquired for Industries

    Andhra Pradesh: Anantapur Farmers Protest Against Real Estate on Land Acquired for Industries

  • Too Little Too Late: Former MP on Chit Fund ‘Moghul’ KD Singh’s Arrest

    Too Little Too Late: Former MP on Chit Fund ‘Moghul’ KD Singh’s Arrest

  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with
about