The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?
A fascinating tour of particle physics from Nobel Prize winner Leon Lederman.\ \ At the root of particle physics is an invincible sense of curiosity. Leon Lederman embraces this spirit of inquiry as he moves from the Greeks' earliest scientific observations to Einstein and beyond to chart this unique arm of scientific study. His survey concludes with the Higgs boson, nicknamed the God Particle, which scientists hypothesize will help unlock the last secrets of the subatomic universe,...
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In this extraordinarily accessible and enormously witty book, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman guides us on a fascinating tour of the history of particle physics. The book 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. With a new preface by Lederman, The God Particle will leave you marveling at our continuing pursuit of the infinitesimal. Publishers Weekly The ``God particle'' of the title is Lederman's term for what other physicists call a Higgs boson--a hypothetical particle that might hold a key to the subatomic world of quarks and leptons. To find out if a Higgs boson indeed exists, this Nobel laureate in physics conceived of the Superconducting Super Collider, which, if constructed, would be the world's most powerful particle accelerator. Writing with Teresi (coauthor of The Three-Pound Universe ), Lederman first surveys moments of discovery from Newton to Einstein in a breezy, folksy style that can be annoying (``Galileo was an irascible sort of guy . . . . He could be a pain in the ass''). This style, however, serves the reader well when Lederman and Teresi enter the complexities of subatomic physics, clarifying the search for squarks and winos, grand unified theories, superstrings and dark matter. $100,000 ad/promo; author tour. (Feb.)
Dramatis Personae1The Invisible Soccer Ball12The First Particle Physicist25Interlude A: A Tale of Two Cities643Looking for the Atom: The Mechanics654Still Looking for the Atom: Chemists and Electricians1045The Naked Atom141Interlude B: The Dancing Moo-Shu Masters1896Accelerators: They Smash Atoms, Don't They?199Interlude C: How We Violated Parity in a Weekend ... and Discovered God2567A-tom!2748The God Particle at Last3429Inner Space, Outer Space, and the Time Before Time382Acknowledgments411A Note on History and Sources412Index415
