Melvin Schwartz's research and experimentation in the weak force of the four fundamental forces of nature resulted in the proof of the existence of the neutrino, a particle of zero-rest mass, and the Nobel Prize-winning discovery and definition of the two existing types of neutrinos, the electron neutrino, and the muon neutrino.

Schwartz was born in New York City on November 2, 1932, to Harry and Hannah Shulman Schwartz. He entered the world-famous Bronx High School of Science in 1944, at the age of twelve, and graduated five years later. By that time, he had made up his mind to become a theoretical physicist. That decision having been made, his choice for a college education was easy. At the time New York City's own Columbia University had, as Schwartz later characterized it, a physics department that was "unmatched by any in the world."

Schwartz earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics and...