1926-

Chinese-American physicist awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics for his theoretical discovery that the conservation of parity was violated in some kaon decays. Lee's interests included astrophysics, field theory, and other exceedingly complex problems in physics before turning to the aspects of particle physics for which he is best known. Hailed by Robert Oppenheimer as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists of that time, Lee was 31 when he won the Nobel Prize for his work.