Product Description

A comprehensive overview of modern particle physics, which seeks to be accessible to anyone with a true passion for wanting to know how the universe works. We are introduced to the known particles of the world we live in. An explanation of quantum mechanics and relativity paves the way for an understanding of the laws that govern particle physics. These laws are put into action in the world of accelerators, colliders and detectors found at institutions such as CERN and Fermilab that are in the forefront of technical innovation. Real world and theory meet, with the use of Feynman diagrams to solve the problems of infinities and deduce the need for the Higgs boson. The volume offers insight from an eyewitness and participant in some of the greatest discoveries in 20th-century science. From Einstein's theory of relativity to the elusive Higgs particle, the text should interest anyone interested in the world of quarks, leptons and gauge theories. The work also contains many thumbnail sketches of particle physics personalities, including contemporaries as seen through the eyes of the author. Illustrated with pictures, these candid sketches present views of the characters that populate the field.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #398158 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-25
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .72" h x 6.02" w x 9.16" l, 1.48 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 348 pages

Review
.,." readers, from the merely curious to the expert in the field of modern particle physics, should read this book ..."

Journal of Scientific Exploration
All JSE readers, from the merely curious to the expert in the field of modern particle physics, should read this.

Review
… students and researchers in elementary particle physics should seriously consider having this book in their personal library, partly to be able to look at the many pictures and brief biographies of their favorite elementary particle physicists, and partly to learn Veltman’s incisive thinking on obscure or unsettled areas in particle physics … there are plenty of popular books on dark matter, dark energy, black holes, and cosmology, but relatively few straightforward yet fascinating popular books on elementary particle physics, so in this sense Veltman’s book is exactly what is needed.