The Particle Odyssey: A Journey to the Heart of Matter - Hardcover

Close, Frank; Marten, Michael; Sutton, Christine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198504861 ISBN 13: 9780198504863

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2002

Synopsis

During the 20th century, scientists discovered WHAT the Universe is made of; as the 21st century begins, they are preparing experiments to find out HOW it came to be like this. This great adventure, which will involve a metaphorical journey back in time to within a billionth of a second of the Big Bang, is the latest stage in the quest to understand the nature of the matter that makes our Universe and the forces that govern it. The Particle Odyssey takes the reader on a spectacularly illustrated journey to the heart of matter. In clear, non-technical language the authors describe the key experiments and fundamental discoveries which have led to our current understanding of the origins and nature of the material universe. There are individual 'portraits' of all the major subatomic particles, from the electron to the top quark. The authors describe the history of experimental particle physics: its origins in the discovery of X-rays in 1895; the dissection of the atom by Rutherford and others; the unexpected revelations of the cosmic rays; the explosion of new particles in the 1950s and 60s; the discovery of quarks and the rise of the 'standard model' in the last part of the 20th century. And they also look at the great challenges that face physicists today - where did antimatter go? what is dark matter? can there be a theory of everything? - and the experiments they are devising to explore them. The Particle Odyssey brings together and presents with style over 100 of the best images of particle 'events' - mysterious, abstract, often beautiful pictures of the tracks of subatomic particles as they speed, curve, dance, or explode through cloud and bubble chambers, stacks of photographic emulsion, and the giant multi-element detectors of modern experiments. Here are spiralling electrons, the tell-tale 'vees' of strange particles, matter and antimatter born from raw energy, energetic jets of particles spraying out from the decay points of quarks and gluons. A further 250 pictures, many taken specially for this book, illustrate the laboratories, experiments, and personalities of over a century of particle physics.

About this title

Review:

The authors of The Particle Odyssey have no less an aim than to explain the curious scribbles left on photographic emulsions and computer screens by subatomic particles. To make these abstract images come to life is no mean task, and this is a book whose striking pictures are absolutely integral to the text. Through both, we not only come to understand those maddening photographs; we're also given an exciting and succinct visual account of the particle physics project, from its pioneering days to present.

Figures, diagrams and ghostly tracings: how much can non-scientists grasp the grit of science? Will they even want to? While most popular science explains itself by means of metaphor and simile, a handful of brave books attempt to convey the scientific project in all its complexity, busy-ness, and technical detail.

Early in 2002, It Must Be Beautiful, a collection of essays edited by Peter Farmelo, did interested readers a great service by explaining why scientific equations look the way they do. True, an equation is often only the tip of a massively complex intellectual iceberg; but Farmelo's contributors showed that the form of the equation itself need hold no terrors.

Particle physics is not a mere analysis of what matter is, so much as a series of testable speculations about what it once was at the first moment of existence, and what it might be, were the constants of physics other than they are. History, current knowledge, and a journalistic fascination with Big Science, are all cleverly interwoven in an account that convinced even this sceptic that, among the toils and coils of the world's most expensive machines, there is, after all, something beautiful going on.--Simon Ings

Review:

"Succeeds in providing readers with an overview of the historical development of particle physics and an appreciation of the exciting ideas that drive current research. No book better captures the visual and intellectual sweep of a century of particle physics."--American Scientist "Succeeds in providing readers with an overview of the historical development of particle physics and an appreciation of the exciting ideas that drive current research. No book better captures the visual and intellectual sweep of a century of particle physics."--American Scientist "Succeeds in providing readers with an overview of the historical development of particle physics and an appreciation of the exciting ideas that drive current research. No book better captures the visual and intellectual sweep of a century of particle physics."--American Scientist "Succeeds in providing readers with an overview of the historical development of particle physics and an appreciation of the exciting ideas that drive current research. No book better captures the visual and intellectual sweep of a century of particle physics."--American Scientist

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0198504861
• ISBN 13: 9780198504863
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 246