Joshua Lederberg (May 23, 1925 – February 2, 2008) was an American geneticist. He was known for his work on bacterial transduction, artificial intelligence, and space exploration. He was just 33 years old when he won the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering that bacteria can mate and exchange genes. He shared the prize with Edward Tatum and George Beadle who won for their work on the genetics of the fungus "Neurospora".