Synopses & Reviews
This distinctive collection of essays, discussions, and personal reminiscences depicts the exciting scientific era that witnessed a revolution in microscopic physics and the development of particle physics into "big science." The writings, based on the 1985 International Symposium of Particle Physics held at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, focus on the intellectual and social development of elementary particle physics. The editors have assembled a prestigious group of physicists (many of whom are Nobel Laureates) and historians of science. The historical studies and analyses are unique in scope and in level of detail. Major topics and developments include: the important experiments and their theoretical explanations, the design and construction of accelerators and detectors used in the actual experiments, and the establishment of major research centers, especially the national laboratories which played a key role in the shift of particle physics to "big science." The essays also range from sociological analyses of the particle physics subculture to the political aspects of research funding.
Review
"While the volume will be a valuable source for historians, it is also fascinating reading for physicists wishing to understand the origins of today's `standard model' of the elementary particles and their interactions." Physics Today"...highly readable...." Physics in Canada
Synopsis
Editors Laurie Brown, Max Dresden and Lillian Hoddeson have assembled a prestigious group of physicists and historians of science to present a broadly balanced picture of this exciting scientific era that witnessed the coming of age of particle physics and its development into 'big science'. The historical studies and analyses provided in the volume are unique in their scope and level of detail. Major topics and developments addressed include the important experiments and their theoretical explanations, the design and construction of scientific instruments and the establishment of major research centres - especially the national laboratories that played a key role in the transformation of particle physics into 'big science'. These essays also range from sociological analyses of the particle physics subculture and the political aspects of research funding to discussions of symmetry and axiomatic field theory.
Table of Contents
1. introduction Laurie M. Brown, Max Dresden, Lillian Hoddeson, Chen Ning Yang and J. L. Heilbron; 2. Particle discoveries in cosmic rays George D. Rochester and Donald H. Perkins; 3. High-energy nuclear physics Robert L. Walker, Robert Hofstadter, Robert G. Sachs and Kameshwar C. Wali; 4. The new laboratory Matthew Sands, John P. Blewett, Ernest D. Courant, Lawrence W. Jones, Luis W. Alvarez, Ugo Amaldi, Robert Hofstadter, Donald W. Kerst, Robert R. Wilson, Peter Galison, Shuji Fukui, Gerson Goldhaber, Owen Chamberlain and Oreste Piccioni; 5. The strange particles Luis W. Alvarez, Jack Steinberger, William Chinowsky, William B. Fowler and Abraham Pais; 6. Weak interactions Frederick Reines, Bruno M. Pontecorvo, Louis Michel, Sam B. Treiman, D. Hywel White and Daniel Sullivan; 7. Weak interactions and parity nonconservation Allan Franklin, Richard H. Dalitz, Val L. Fitch, Valentine L. Telegdi and E. C. G. Sudarsham; 8. The particle physics community Robert Seidel, Edoardo Amaldi, Armin Hermann, Abdus Salsm and Michiji Konuma; 9. Theories of hadrons Helmut Rechenberg, Andy Pickering, Geoffrey F. Chew, Arthur S. Wightman, Yuval Ne'eman and Yoichiro Nambu; 10. Personal overviews Robert E. Marshak, Silvan S. Schweber and Murray Gell-Mann; Name index; Subjet index.