In his long career he was head of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Science Foundation, and was assistant to the president of Associated Universities, Inc. Leland John Haworth was born on July 11, 1904, in Flint, Michigan, although his parents were normally living in New York City at the time.

[1][2] In 1927 he married Barbara Mottier, the daughter of the chairman of the Botany Department at Indiana University, and they had two children: Jane and John.

[1] He taught at the Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis for two years while working on his father's farm before pursuing his PhD.

[1] With the onset of World War II, Haworth assisted with wartime research at the MIT Radiation Laboratory, developing new radar systems.

He joined the newly created Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, in 1948, immediately taking a leadership role as assistant director for special projects.

[1] A few months after his first wife died in 1961, Haworth along with Glenn T. Seaborg, was assigned by President John F. Kennedy to become commissioner of the Atomic Energy Commission.

He tackled issues there such as Project Mohole, bringing new colleges into NSF research, and planning for the Very Large Array.