Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the first edition
- Preface to the second edition
- 1 The building blocks of the atom
- 2 Physical laws for small particles
- 3 The discoveries of the 1930s and 1940s
- 4 Particle accelerators — or from hunters to farmers
- 5 Strange particles
- 6 Basic forces and the classification of particles
- 7 Conservation laws
- 8 Short-lived particles
- 9 To the quarks — via the eightfold way
- 10 More quarks — or charm, truth and beauty
- 11 The Standard Model and beyond
- Appendix 1 Properties of semi-stable particles
- Appendix 2 The Greek alphabet
- Name index
- Subject index
Preface to the second edition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the first edition
- Preface to the second edition
- 1 The building blocks of the atom
- 2 Physical laws for small particles
- 3 The discoveries of the 1930s and 1940s
- 4 Particle accelerators — or from hunters to farmers
- 5 Strange particles
- 6 Basic forces and the classification of particles
- 7 Conservation laws
- 8 Short-lived particles
- 9 To the quarks — via the eightfold way
- 10 More quarks — or charm, truth and beauty
- 11 The Standard Model and beyond
- Appendix 1 Properties of semi-stable particles
- Appendix 2 The Greek alphabet
- Name index
- Subject index
Summary
Much has happened in particle physics since the last (1989) printing of The Particle Hunters. Some of the new discoveries have filled critical gaps in the picture of the world which particle physicists have endeavoured to sketch in the last four decades. This picture, although by no means perfect, is much more complete now than it was a few years ago. Therefore, when Dr Simon Capelin from Cambridge University Press wrote to us, asking whether we would be willing to produce a new and updated second edition of the book, it was difficult to decline.
In undertaking that arduous task we were encouraged by warm responses of readers from all over the world, who have read the book either in English or in some other language (Spanish, Italian, Japanese or Hebrew) and wrote to tell us how they had benefited by it.
A gentleman from Sussex sent us his own theory of elementary particles, which he had conceived after reading our book. A young journalist from Eire who managed to embrace all the laws of physics in one equation, published it in a local newspaper and sent us the relevant issue. A poet sent us a poem in which she recounted the dreams she had after finding out what the world is made of, and a public relations manager in an accelerator centre in the USA told us how the book had helped her to understand the operation of the accelerator and to explain it to visitors.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Particle Hunters , pp. xv - xviPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996