John Peoples Jr., Fermilab director from 1989-1999, passed away on June 25, 2025 at the age of 92.
As the third director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, his career spanned more than half of a century. Over the course of this time, Peoples led Fermilab during the run of the Tevatron, which contributed to the discovery of the top quark on March 2, 1995, made the Main Injector project a reality, and initiated an astrophysics program at Fermilab.
“Achieving great science requires great leadership, and John Peoples was that. His passion and dedication to physics and astrophysics led to significant contributions in Fermilab’s history,” said interim Fermilab Director, Young-Kee Kim. “He worked continually to maintain support from local, state and federal levels for Fermilab, helping secure funding for the Main Injector upgrade, which was significant to the lab’s rich science program since the 2000s,” she added.
Peoples earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1955. He worked briefly as an engineer before turning to physics, receiving his Ph.D. at Columbia University. Later in his career, that engineering background was often vital to finding solutions and solving technical problems.
He came to Fermilab on a sabbatical from Cornell in 1971 to start work on a photoproduction experiment. Joining the lab with temporary appointments as a scientist in 1972 and 1973, Fermilab’s first director, Robert Wilson, appointed him head of the proton beamline. Peoples officially joined the lab in April 1975 as head of the Research Division.
From 1980-1987, he led the design and construction of the antiproton source that collected and stored more antiprotons than any other facility in the world. In 1987, Peoples was appointed deputy director of Fermilab, and two years later he succeeded Leon Lederman as the lab director.
“John was tireless in his commitment to Fermilab and to it being the premier high energy physics laboratory in the U.S. He was ahead of his time in recognizing the talents and contributions of scientists at the lab who otherwise would’ve been overlooked,” said Regina Rameika, associate director for the Office of High Energy Physics in the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. During People’s tenure as director, Rameika led the MINOS and DONUT experiments at Fermilab and was the deputy head of the lab’s research division.
Credit: Reidar Hahn, Fermilab
Peoples formed an experimental astrophysics group in 1991 at Fermilab and the University of Chicago, and he was responsible for Fermilab becoming an early partner in what was to become the SDSS. Years later, he took on the role of director of the DES to pursue funding, collaboration from international partners and mentoring early career scientists.
In 2005, he worked with Fermilab to formally establish the Peoples Fellowship, created to assist young physicists interested in transitioning from experimental physics to accelerator physics. Over the last two decades, several dozen young researchers, many of whom achieved eminent positions in the scientific community, have benefited from the program.
Peoples was awarded the Robert R. Wilson Prize for Achievement in the Physics of Particle Accelerators from the American Physical Society in 2010 for his “critical and enduring efforts in making the Tevatron Collider the outstanding high-energy physics accelerator of the last two decades.”
In his retirement, Peoples made many visits back to Fermilab, checking on the status of projects like the Dark Energy Survey and talking to scientists about different experiments.
“John was a great leader,” said former Fermilab scientist Steve Holmes. “He was director during a very critical period, when the Tevatron accelerator really came to the forefront. And in the early ’90s he worked tirelessly to make the Main Injector project a reality. He realized that one day the Tevatron program would end, and the Main Injector would become the future of the lab. If not for this insight, Fermilab and the U.S. would not have an accelerator-based high-energy physics program today.”
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is America’s premier national laboratory for particle physics and accelerator research. Fermi Forward Discovery Group manages Fermilab for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Visit Fermilab’s website at www.fnal.gov and follow us on social media.
Forty high school students with Chicago Public Schools graduated from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s Saturday Morning Quantum* (SMQ*) program on May 31, 2025.
The inaugural 10-week program was held at the Olive Harvey College Learning Center in Chicago’s South Shore community, near the Midwest’s up and coming global destination for quantum, the Illinois Quantum Microelectronics Park — a planned 128-acre quantum computing technology campus.
“Teaching students about how the world works at the quantum level and how quantum technology could transform our life is imperative in this rapidly changing world,” said Young-Kee Kim, interim director of Fermilab.
This new program was modeled after Fermilab’s Saturday Morning Physics (SMP) outreach program that is held annually at the laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. SMP has been successfully running for over 40 years.
SMQ* — the asterisk meaning “more” — was developed by Fermilab’s Education and Public Engagement team along with the lab’s Superconducting Quantum Materials Systems team to bring a quantum science curriculum to high school students in the City of Chicago.
Once a week during the 10-week course students learned about core topics in the field of quantum science and quantum computing — including quantum mechanics, superconducting technology, quantum computing and sensing, engineering and cryogenic platforms for quantum computers.
On top of gaining technical and scientific knowledge, students worked with quantum scientists and engineers and learn about what led them to pursue their career paths.
Commenting on the experience, one student said, “Thanks to the teachers, I was able to learn more about quantum and quantum computing. There were no dumb questions in class.”
Led by Fermilab staff, students also had the opportunity to tour laboratories and scientific spaces at Fermilab, including the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center (SQMS), where scientists and researchers work to develop and deploy the world’s most powerful quantum computers and sensors.
“Touring Fermilab and learning what they do and how they do it was rewarding,” said another student.
During the graduation ceremony, students received certificates for completing the program.
With programs like SMQ*, Fermilab is building pathways into science for Chicagoland students by bringing hands-on learning and mentorship into the heart of Chicago while inspiring future generations of scientists.
The Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center is one of the five U.S. Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Centers. Led by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, SQMS is a collaboration of 36 partner institutions — national labs, academia and industry — working together to bring transformational advances in the field of quantum information science. The center leverages Fermilab’s expertise in building complex particle accelerators to engineer multiqubit quantum processor platforms based on state-of-the-art qubits and superconducting technologies. Working hand in hand with embedded industry partners, SQMS will build a quantum computer and new quantum sensors at Fermilab, which will open unprecedented computational opportunities. For more information, please visit sqmscenter.fnal.gov.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is America’s premier national laboratory for particle physics and accelerator research. Fermi Forward Discovery Group manages Fermilab for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Visit Fermilab’s website at www.fnal.gov and follow us on social media