Luna Bergere Leopold was a leading U.S. geomorphologist and hydrologist. He was born on October 8, 1915 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. He received a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1936; an M.S. in Physics-Meteorology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1944; and a Ph.D. in Geology from Harvard University in 1950. In all, he authored some 200 articles and books, many of which remain widely used in teaching and field work today. His achievements were recognized during his lifetime with many prestigious awards and honors, including the National Medal of Science, the Penrose Medal of the Geological Society of America, election to the National Academy of Sciences, and election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science, posthumously, in 2006. He died in February 2006 at the age of 90 at his home in Berkeley, California.