Joshua Lederberg

Joshua Lederberg, PhD ’41, ForMemRS, was an American molecular biologist known for his work in microbial genetics, artificial intelligence, and his pioneering work with Carl Sagan on exobiology for NASA. He graduated Stuyvesant at 15, and was just 33 years old when he won the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for proving that bacteria can exchange genetic material.