God Particle

If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?

Leon Lederman, Dick Teresi

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780618711680
• eBook ISBN: 9780547524627
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Science History

A Nobel Prize–winning physicist's "funny, clever, entertaining" account of the history of particle physics and the hunt for a Higgs boson ( Library Journal).
 
In this extraordinarily accessible and witty book, Leon Lederman—"the most engaging physicist since the late, much-missed Richard Feynman" ( San Francisco Examiner)—offers a fascinating tour that takes us from the Greeks' earliest scientific observations through Einstein and beyond in an inspiring celebration of human curiosity. It ends with the quest for the Higgs boson, nicknamed the God Particle, which scientists hypothesize will help unlock the last secrets of the subatomic universe. This is not only an enlightening journey through baryons and hadrons and leptons and electrons—it also "may be the funniest book about physics ever written" ( The Dallas Morning News).
 
"One of the clearest, most enjoyable new science books in years . . . explains the entire history of physics and cosmology. En route, you'll laugh so hard you won't realize how much you are learning." — San Francisco Examiner
 
"The story of the search for the ultimate constituents of matter has been told many times before, but never with more verve and wit. . . . His hilarious account of how he helped persuade President Reagan to approve the construction of the Super Collider is itself worth the price of the book." — Los Angeles Times

Index

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Abdera, 32, 58

Accelerators, particle, 5, 200–201, 203–12, 225, 231

acronyms for, 240

and birth of universe, 253–54, 388

and cathedrals, 254–55

detectors for, 355–57

bubble chamber, 246–47, 252

in CERN quest for W’s, 354

cloud chamber, 139, 244–46

at Fermilab, 248–50

and J/psi discovery, 314, 315–16

proportional wire chamber, 248

scintillation counters, 247–48

spark chamber, 291

energy levels of, 201–3, 205, 208, 230, 253

existing labs for, 226

at Fermilab, 26–27, 205, 218–19, 231, 235–37, 242 (see also Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory)

of 1990s, 324

in orbit around earth, 255

as particle factories, 358

and race for high voltage, 212–14

results from, 274–75

pions, 250

production of new particles, 251–53

scattering, 251

size consideration in, 232

technical breakthroughs for

cascade acceleration, 232

phase stability, 228–29

strong focusing, 229–31

superconductivity, 233–34, 236, 380

types of

colliding-beam, 239–44

cyclotron, 214–18, 221, 230

electron/positron vs. proton, 238, 311

synchrocyclotron, 219–22

synchrotron, 217–19, 229–31

vacuum tube for, 212–13

and Van de Graaf generator, 213

See also specific accelerators and locations

Action-at-a-distance, 125

and electromagnetic waves, 129

and EPR thought experi...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Preface
• Dramatis Personae
• The Invisible Soccer Ball
• The First Particle Physicist
• Interlude A: A Tale of Two Cities
• Looking for the Atom: The Mechanics
• Still Looking for the Atom: Chemists and Electricians
• The Naked Atom
• Interlude B: The Dancing Moo-Shu Masters
• Accelerators: They Smash Atoms, Don’t They?
• Interlude C: How We Violated Parity in a Weekend . . . and Discovered God
• A-Tom!
• The God Particle At Last
• Inner Space, Outer Space, and the Time Before Time
• Acknowledgments
• A Note on History and Sources
• Index
• About the Authors
• Connect with HMH