Luna Bergere Leopold, professor emeritus of geology and landscape architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, was born October 8, 1915 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He received a B.S. degree in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin, a master's in meteorology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Ph.D. from Harvard (1950).

His early career includes experiences with the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Pineapple Research Institute in Hawaii. From 1957 to 1968, he served as chief hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey's Water Resources Division. In 1972, he joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley. In September 1991, he received the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest scientific honor. Previously, he received the Distinguished Service Award of the Department of the Interior (1958) and the Rockefeller Public Service Award (1971).

Luna Leopold is the second son of Aldo Leopold, pioneer in scientific wildlife management and author of A Sand County Almanac, a collection of reflective essays which stands alongside the works of Henry David Thoreau and John Muir as philosophic underpinnings for the modern environmental movement.

In 1990 and 1991, the Regional Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, conducted a series of interviews with Leopold that were published in 1993: Hydrology, Geomorphology, and Environmental Policy : U.S. Geological Survey, 1950-1972, and UC Berkeley, 1972-1987. Berkeley: Regional Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, University of California, 1993.