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Nature 430, 617 (5 August 2004) | doi:10.1038/430617a; Published online 4 August 2004

Turning points The pleasure of learning

Leon Lederman1

  1. Leon Lederman is director emeritus of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois 60510-0500, USA.

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How an Italian visitor rekindled the joy of science in a war veteran.

Picking up the threads of normal life after a war is difficult, even when you are on the winning side. In 1946, returning from the Second World War, I registered at Columbia University, New York, as a graduate student in physics.