God particle (If the universe is the answer, what is the real question?)

Author: Leon Lederman / Dick Teresi / Mi Zujun / Gu Hongwei / Zhao Jianhui / Chen Hongwei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-12-01
Features: What are the ultimate particles that make up the universe? Starting from Democritus's "thought experiment" in ancient Greece, where he deduced the existence of "atoms" by smelling the aroma of baked bread, countless experimentalists and theorists have struggled to unravel this mystery for over 2,000 years. In the early chapters of this book, one of the greatest particle physicists of our time, and the 1988 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, Leon Lederman, guides us through the long history of human exploration of the universe's ultimate particles with humorous and vivid language. From this, we will see how the scientific pioneers advanced this puzzle step by step toward uncovering the key to the universe's final mystery—the "God Particle." The "God Particle" is Lederman's nickname for the Higgs boson. This particle is a fundamental particle that physicists theoretically postulate exists and has now become the center of research in the entire particle physics community. Lederman more vividly refers to it as the "particle conducting the universe's symphony." Through Lederman's engaging storytelling, we not only gain a clear understanding of how modern physicists search for fundamental particles but also learn many interesting anecdotes from the history of modern physics. Additionally, we gain a deeper understanding of cutting-edge issues in contemporary physics, including the standard model, the Large Theory, superstrings, and dark matter, as well as more fundamental questions like "Why do all forms of matter have mass."