Fraser G. (Ed.) The Particle Century

IOP Publishing Ltd, 1998, 252 pages, ISBN: 0750305436From the first attempts to split the atom to the discovery of the top quark, the 20th century has witnessed a revolution in basic physics. Probing successively smaller constituents of matter has also revealed the conditions present at the time of the Big Bang. In a series of essays by scientists who have been closely involved in this exciting research, The Particle Century describes the unprecedented advances in our understanding of the universe. The book covers major historical developments as well as current advances, including early accelerator physics, the rise of the Standard Model, new comprehension of the big bang theory, and the cutting edge of today's investigations. These essays add novel insight into the continuing efforts to unravel the deepest secrets of nature.Nobel prizes in physics
The path of post-war physics
Cosmic rain
First accelerator fruits
The three-quark picture
Finding the internal structures of the proton and neutron
Gauge theories
Unexpected windfall
Weak interactions
Hunting the carriers of the weak force
Quark mixing and cp violation
Quark glue
How the standard model works
The top quark
The standard model and beyond
Colour plate section
The tools: accelerators
The tools: detectors
Particle physics and cosmology
Big bang dynamics
Recent advances in astronomy