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Beyond the God Particle
Two leading physicists discuss the importance of the Higgs Boson, the future of particle physics, and the mysteries of the universe yet to be unraveled.On July 4, 2012, the long-sought Higgs Boson--aka "the God Particle"--was discovered at the world's largest particle accelerator, the LHC, in Geneva, Switzerland. On March 14, 2013, physicists at CERN confirmed it. This elusive subatomic particle forms a field that permeates the entire universe, creating the masses of the elementary particles that are the basic building blocks of everything in the known world--from viruses to elephants, from atoms to quasars.Starting where Nobel Laureate Leon Lederman's bestsellerThe God Particleleft off, this incisive new book explains what's next. Lederman and Hill discuss key questions that will occupy physicists for years to Why were scientists convinced that something like the "God Particle" had to exist?* What new particles, forces, and laws of physics lie beyond the "God Particle"?* What powerful new accelerators are now needed for the US to recapture a leadership role in science and to reach "beyond the God Particle," such as Fermilab's planned Project-X and the Muon Collider?Using thoughtful, witty, everyday language, the authors show how all of these intriguing questions are leading scientists ever deeper into the fabric of nature. Readers ofThe God Particlewill not want to miss this important sequel.
325 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
37 people are currently reading
667 people want to read
About the author
Leon M. Lederman
13 books79 followersLeon M. Lederman (Ph.D., Columbia University) was Director of The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, a position he held for ten years. He was the Frank L. Sulzberger Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago. He received the National Medal of Science in 1965 and shared the Wolf Prize in physics in 1982. Dr. Lederman shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery of the muon neutrino.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
June 4, 2014
On March 2, during the True/False Film Festival in Columbia MO, I saw a fascinating documentary on the discovery of the Higgs particle, Particle Fever. The Higgs particle, named after Dr. Peter Higgs, who proposed it in the mid-1960s, is felt to offer a solution as to why objects have mass. As I am fascinated by particle physics, quantum theory, relativity and cosmology, the film inspired me to finally read a book published in 2013. This was Beyond the God Particle by Leon Lederman and Christopher Hill. Lederman, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics in 1988 for his work with neutrinos and the former Director of Fermilab, is uniquely positioned to write a book on the history and discovery of the Higgs particle and speculations of what will follow from that discovery. Lederman is also who coined the name “God Particle” for the Higgs particle.
The book opens with the dismal history of the United States’ plan to build the Superconducting Super Collider in Texas in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Work was actually begun, but Congress officially killed the progress following a vote in the House of Representatives on October 19, 1993. This vote essentially removed the United States from a leading research position in the search for the Higgs particle. This was a disaster according to Lederman. And it will be a recurring theme throughout the book. Lederman is very disappointed by this turn of events. The book then moves on to the formation of CERN (Organisation européenne pour la recherché nucléaire) founded in the mid-1950s. The authors trace the history of the various particle accelerators at CERN to the construction of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) from 2000-2008. The LHC was started on September 10, 2008 and on September 19, 2008 a massive explosion occurred, causing massive damage to the LHC tunnel. This further delayed the search for the Higgs particle until November 20, 2009 when protons were again circulated through the tunnel. Following months of experiments and data collection, the discovery of the Higgs particle was announced on July 4, 2012. The chapter ends with an account of how the name “God Particle” came about.
Following the history behind the actual search for the Higgs particle and the United States’ failures to support nuclear research, the authors offer a brief history of particle physics and quantum theory from Democritus on, all in an attempt to answer deep questions such as “What are all things made of?” and “What causes mass?” The attempts to answer this latter question is what lead to the proposed Higgs particle.. The following chapter delves deeply into the theory and discovery of muons and pions and their properties. In particular, the authors examine some of their properties and symmetries such as spin and parity. In this chapter, the reader gets an extensive section on Lederman’s own work on parity violations. This is not particularly easy material. This parity violation in pion decay is what led to the hypothesis of the Higgs boson.
The next two chapters develop the definitions, theories and ideas of what mass is. Chapter 4 mainly is the authors’ attempts to give a precise definition of mass. Chapter 5 looks at mass in far more detail—particles both with and without mass. What symmetries are there? How does quantum physics enter in? What is a vacuum? What effect does relativity have? What is chirality (basically left- and right-handedness) and why is it important? Chapter 5 is fairly long and the material is difficult to understand. The authors do a reasonable job in explaining these concepts, but it is not light reading in any sense.
Chapter Six is a history and explanation of the weak interaction and how it relates to the Higgs particle. The weak interaction is the weak force and deals with certain nuclear processes such as beta decay. Combining the weak force with electromagnetism led to the Standard Model in particle physics. The authors spend time to go into the details of the weak interactions and how the weak charge symmetry is broken as the particle vibrates, changing its chirality. As with the previous chapter, this is not fast or easy reading.
Chapter Seven develops the history and basic ideas of microscopes. The gist is that in order to study an object, the particles needed to “magnify” the object under study must be smaller than the object under study. This led from the optical microscope to the electron microscope and beyond. Particle accelerators are essentially microscopes using smaller particles to study other particles.
Chapter Eight is a history of particle accelerators from linacs (linear accelerators) to cyclotrons to synchrotrons to the LHC. The chapter concludes with some speculations as to the next generation of particle accelerators.
Chapter Nine is titled “Rare Processes.” In it, the authors discuss and describe the discovery of antimatter and its implications. This includes beta decay and other weak processes. This leads the authors back to the subject of symmetries. There are three they discuss in Chapter Nine: CPT. The “P” stands for parity which is mirror symmetry. The weak interactions violate this. “C” stands for charge conjugation. This is a symmetry in which if we replace all normal matter with their antimatter pairs, we would still achieve the same results. This is also violated by the weak interactions. Finally, “T” is time reversal. This is the symmetry we have if we can reverse the flow of time and no change is noticed. As it turns out, quantum theory requires CPT combined to be an exact symmetry, and to date, experiments have borne that out.
Chapter Ten turns to neutrinos and incorporates further research by Lederman. In this chapter, the authors discuss the importance of neutrinos in particle physics and how further research can be critical. Chapters 11 and 12 both look at what lies beyond the discovery of the Higgs particle. What questions are still unanswered. What avenues of research are open to physicists. The main topic the authors deal with in these chapters is the eventual construction of a muon collider. They conclude with the question that although the Higgs particle do explain (or rather accommodate) the masses of other particles, it does not explain its own mass. This is a frustrating question.
So, did I enjoy the book? Yes, for the most part I did. However, I got annoyed at what I perceived as Lederman’s tooting of his own horn. Of course, that may not be fair on my part. He has justly had an important role in several of these developments, although not the Higgs particle directly. I also felt there was a tone of disappointment and disgust over the United States’ failure to fully fund the Superconducting Super Collider. This lack of vision by Congress has proven costly in terms of US nuclear and particle research. In essence, physicists in the US were forced to concede the issues and do their research at CERN. This disappointment casts a long shadow over the book. However, if the reader is willing to spend some time struggling through the denser parts, the book is a valuable picture of modern particle and quantum physics with speculations for future investigation.
The book opens with the dismal history of the United States’ plan to build the Superconducting Super Collider in Texas in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Work was actually begun, but Congress officially killed the progress following a vote in the House of Representatives on October 19, 1993. This vote essentially removed the United States from a leading research position in the search for the Higgs particle. This was a disaster according to Lederman. And it will be a recurring theme throughout the book. Lederman is very disappointed by this turn of events. The book then moves on to the formation of CERN (Organisation européenne pour la recherché nucléaire) founded in the mid-1950s. The authors trace the history of the various particle accelerators at CERN to the construction of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) from 2000-2008. The LHC was started on September 10, 2008 and on September 19, 2008 a massive explosion occurred, causing massive damage to the LHC tunnel. This further delayed the search for the Higgs particle until November 20, 2009 when protons were again circulated through the tunnel. Following months of experiments and data collection, the discovery of the Higgs particle was announced on July 4, 2012. The chapter ends with an account of how the name “God Particle” came about.
Following the history behind the actual search for the Higgs particle and the United States’ failures to support nuclear research, the authors offer a brief history of particle physics and quantum theory from Democritus on, all in an attempt to answer deep questions such as “What are all things made of?” and “What causes mass?” The attempts to answer this latter question is what lead to the proposed Higgs particle.. The following chapter delves deeply into the theory and discovery of muons and pions and their properties. In particular, the authors examine some of their properties and symmetries such as spin and parity. In this chapter, the reader gets an extensive section on Lederman’s own work on parity violations. This is not particularly easy material. This parity violation in pion decay is what led to the hypothesis of the Higgs boson.
The next two chapters develop the definitions, theories and ideas of what mass is. Chapter 4 mainly is the authors’ attempts to give a precise definition of mass. Chapter 5 looks at mass in far more detail—particles both with and without mass. What symmetries are there? How does quantum physics enter in? What is a vacuum? What effect does relativity have? What is chirality (basically left- and right-handedness) and why is it important? Chapter 5 is fairly long and the material is difficult to understand. The authors do a reasonable job in explaining these concepts, but it is not light reading in any sense.
Chapter Six is a history and explanation of the weak interaction and how it relates to the Higgs particle. The weak interaction is the weak force and deals with certain nuclear processes such as beta decay. Combining the weak force with electromagnetism led to the Standard Model in particle physics. The authors spend time to go into the details of the weak interactions and how the weak charge symmetry is broken as the particle vibrates, changing its chirality. As with the previous chapter, this is not fast or easy reading.
Chapter Seven develops the history and basic ideas of microscopes. The gist is that in order to study an object, the particles needed to “magnify” the object under study must be smaller than the object under study. This led from the optical microscope to the electron microscope and beyond. Particle accelerators are essentially microscopes using smaller particles to study other particles.
Chapter Eight is a history of particle accelerators from linacs (linear accelerators) to cyclotrons to synchrotrons to the LHC. The chapter concludes with some speculations as to the next generation of particle accelerators.
Chapter Nine is titled “Rare Processes.” In it, the authors discuss and describe the discovery of antimatter and its implications. This includes beta decay and other weak processes. This leads the authors back to the subject of symmetries. There are three they discuss in Chapter Nine: CPT. The “P” stands for parity which is mirror symmetry. The weak interactions violate this. “C” stands for charge conjugation. This is a symmetry in which if we replace all normal matter with their antimatter pairs, we would still achieve the same results. This is also violated by the weak interactions. Finally, “T” is time reversal. This is the symmetry we have if we can reverse the flow of time and no change is noticed. As it turns out, quantum theory requires CPT combined to be an exact symmetry, and to date, experiments have borne that out.
Chapter Ten turns to neutrinos and incorporates further research by Lederman. In this chapter, the authors discuss the importance of neutrinos in particle physics and how further research can be critical. Chapters 11 and 12 both look at what lies beyond the discovery of the Higgs particle. What questions are still unanswered. What avenues of research are open to physicists. The main topic the authors deal with in these chapters is the eventual construction of a muon collider. They conclude with the question that although the Higgs particle do explain (or rather accommodate) the masses of other particles, it does not explain its own mass. This is a frustrating question.
So, did I enjoy the book? Yes, for the most part I did. However, I got annoyed at what I perceived as Lederman’s tooting of his own horn. Of course, that may not be fair on my part. He has justly had an important role in several of these developments, although not the Higgs particle directly. I also felt there was a tone of disappointment and disgust over the United States’ failure to fully fund the Superconducting Super Collider. This lack of vision by Congress has proven costly in terms of US nuclear and particle research. In essence, physicists in the US were forced to concede the issues and do their research at CERN. This disappointment casts a long shadow over the book. However, if the reader is willing to spend some time struggling through the denser parts, the book is a valuable picture of modern particle and quantum physics with speculations for future investigation.
January 2, 2020
Libro potenzialmente interessante che però non riesco a considerare una vera opera divulgativa. Un libro, per essere considerato divulgativo, deve essere in grado di far comprendere un certo argomento, in questo caso la fisica delle particelle (in particolar modo argomenti che ruotano attorno al bosone di Higgs, all’LHC di Ginevra,...) soprattutto a coloro che non ne sanno nulla. Deve essere quindi scritto con chiarezza cristallina, spiegare i concetti base senza dare nulla per scontato e approcciare quelli più difficili con esempi pratici, concreti, evitando di risolvere tutto scrivendo una bella formula che però resta incomprensibile ai più.
Questo purtroppo è quanto accade in questo libro. Ho trovato esauriente e chiara la parte iniziale, che tratta di argomenti che più o meno conoscevo, mentre la seconda metà, che introduce argomenti a me estranei, è rimasta completamente oscura. Prima di iniziare a leggere non sapevo assolutamente nulla sul bosone di Higgs, ora della fine sono riuscita a capire che si tratta di una particella che conferisce una massa a tutte le altre particelle...meglio di niente, ma comunque troppo poco per un libro di quasi 400 pagine.
Altro tratto fastidiosissimo è il continuo ripetere frasi del tipo "eh sì, l'acceleratore di particelle del CERN è il più grande del mondo...ma prima che lo facessero il migliore ce l'avevamo noi negli USA", "...ma il Fermilab aveva il Tevatron",...
L'hai detto una volta, bene, bravi, ora fatevene una ragione e ciaone.
Questo purtroppo è quanto accade in questo libro. Ho trovato esauriente e chiara la parte iniziale, che tratta di argomenti che più o meno conoscevo, mentre la seconda metà, che introduce argomenti a me estranei, è rimasta completamente oscura. Prima di iniziare a leggere non sapevo assolutamente nulla sul bosone di Higgs, ora della fine sono riuscita a capire che si tratta di una particella che conferisce una massa a tutte le altre particelle...meglio di niente, ma comunque troppo poco per un libro di quasi 400 pagine.
Altro tratto fastidiosissimo è il continuo ripetere frasi del tipo "eh sì, l'acceleratore di particelle del CERN è il più grande del mondo...ma prima che lo facessero il migliore ce l'avevamo noi negli USA", "...ma il Fermilab aveva il Tevatron",...
L'hai detto una volta, bene, bravi, ora fatevene una ragione e ciaone.
June 13, 2024
I can not imagine a book more poorly written than this one is, particularly on a topic in which I am interested. As a moderately normal human who on an average day can usually count on three digits of IQ, the only reason this book is so utterly chaotic is that the authors do not know how to write. Either that, or the book’s editor is too intimidated to be able to whip out the red pen and tell the authors “This is crap!” Which it is most of the time. Even the Appendix is crap.
And the authors haven’t got a clue!
This book came out in 2013, almost 20 years after Leon Lederman’s original sensationalist and over-hyped joke book, “The God Particle,” and, frankly, this iteration doesn’t really have much new to say other than ‘I guess the Higgs boson wasn’t such a big deal after all.” (If the authors weren’t so arrogant and sure of themselves they might have at least added “Oops!”)
But LL is back, still whining about how stupid the US is for not buying him a Superconducting Super Collider and for not ‘maintaining American leadership in Basic Research,’ and generally for not providing lifetime full employment opportunities for a snorting herd of PhDs jostling to jam their snouts into the Federal trough. (I should like to remind the authors that the US government generously funds a lot of useful cutting-edge basic research: gain-of-function research funded by the CDC at that Chinese lab in Wuhan jumps to mind, and there’s always Sesame Street and NPR if we want examples of taxpayer funds well-and-truly spent.) (And as for the expected economic impact of Basic Research, anyone who cites Paul Samuelson should re-read some of his writing in praise of central planning in the Soviet Union and, well, compare that to reality. Clearly, these authors are not credible when it comes to economics.)
In any case, the authors seem totally oblivious to the notion (crazy, I know…) “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” There is not the slightest recognition by these authors (beyond a fatuous Dedication to taxpayers…) that the people who have to make real-world decisions about government spending priorities might actually have the General Welfare in mind as they make difficult choices. Indeed, it seems these authors don’t even recognize the government’s Right and Duty to make such choices. The Piggies want another turn at their trough; how DARE anyone deny them!
Seriously, if these writers want to build a constituency for more funding for particle physics basic research (and I’m one in favor of such) this book isn’t the way to do it. Indeed, my theory is that the original decision to de-fund LL’s baby, the SSC, in October 1993 is highly correlated (and perhaps directly causally related) to the 1993 appearance of LL’s “The God Particle”. The disingenuous back-pedaling of these authors on pages 31-34 regarding that whimsical bit of “poetic” “exercise in literary license”, coupled with a totally BS “account of an incident” (p 32-33), is just pathetic. (“Shucks, Pa, we wuz jest a-funnin’ “) Anyone with an electron volt less arrogance and maybe an iota more of common sense (and writing ability) would have KNOWN that that title was a dumb idea. No wonder the Feds pulled the plug.
Whatever the case, if you want to learn something about particle physics, this isn’t the book for you, and neither is its 1993 predecessor.
And the authors haven’t got a clue!
This book came out in 2013, almost 20 years after Leon Lederman’s original sensationalist and over-hyped joke book, “The God Particle,” and, frankly, this iteration doesn’t really have much new to say other than ‘I guess the Higgs boson wasn’t such a big deal after all.” (If the authors weren’t so arrogant and sure of themselves they might have at least added “Oops!”)
But LL is back, still whining about how stupid the US is for not buying him a Superconducting Super Collider and for not ‘maintaining American leadership in Basic Research,’ and generally for not providing lifetime full employment opportunities for a snorting herd of PhDs jostling to jam their snouts into the Federal trough. (I should like to remind the authors that the US government generously funds a lot of useful cutting-edge basic research: gain-of-function research funded by the CDC at that Chinese lab in Wuhan jumps to mind, and there’s always Sesame Street and NPR if we want examples of taxpayer funds well-and-truly spent.) (And as for the expected economic impact of Basic Research, anyone who cites Paul Samuelson should re-read some of his writing in praise of central planning in the Soviet Union and, well, compare that to reality. Clearly, these authors are not credible when it comes to economics.)
In any case, the authors seem totally oblivious to the notion (crazy, I know…) “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” There is not the slightest recognition by these authors (beyond a fatuous Dedication to taxpayers…) that the people who have to make real-world decisions about government spending priorities might actually have the General Welfare in mind as they make difficult choices. Indeed, it seems these authors don’t even recognize the government’s Right and Duty to make such choices. The Piggies want another turn at their trough; how DARE anyone deny them!
Seriously, if these writers want to build a constituency for more funding for particle physics basic research (and I’m one in favor of such) this book isn’t the way to do it. Indeed, my theory is that the original decision to de-fund LL’s baby, the SSC, in October 1993 is highly correlated (and perhaps directly causally related) to the 1993 appearance of LL’s “The God Particle”. The disingenuous back-pedaling of these authors on pages 31-34 regarding that whimsical bit of “poetic” “exercise in literary license”, coupled with a totally BS “account of an incident” (p 32-33), is just pathetic. (“Shucks, Pa, we wuz jest a-funnin’ “) Anyone with an electron volt less arrogance and maybe an iota more of common sense (and writing ability) would have KNOWN that that title was a dumb idea. No wonder the Feds pulled the plug.
Whatever the case, if you want to learn something about particle physics, this isn’t the book for you, and neither is its 1993 predecessor.
April 21, 2024
XXXXX
LEARNNG ABOUT THE HIGGS BOSON AND WHAT LIES...BEYOND
XXXXX
"We have told you [in this book] the story of the Higgs boson [the "God" particle]. We have tried to give you an idea about why it exists, based upon what we've learned about the nature of mass in the [twentieth] century. We've seen how the understanding of the basic concept of "mass," known only as "quantity of matter" since the ancients, became more profound in the late twentieth century at the deepest level of the basic building blocks of nature, the elementary particles....
Throughout the...chapters [of this book] it is our goal to explain in clear and simple terms...why we need the Higgs boson to give some inkling as to what may lie beyond."
The above quote (in italics) comes from this informative book by Leon Lederman and Christopher Hill. Lederman won a shared Nobel Prize in Physics (1988) for research on neutrinos (a weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle). He is the author of several science books. Lederman is formerly the Resident Scholar of the Illenois Mathematics and Science Academy and Professor of Science at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is the director emeritus of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory of Fermilab. Hill is a noted theoretial physicist and former head of the Theory Department of Fermilab.
This book provides the best decription of the Higgs boson that I've ever read. In fact, I found all the particle physics in this book well-explained.
After an introductory chapter, the next two chapters are designed to explain particle physics (which is the exploration of the smallest things in the universe). This leads to the "story of the Higgs boson" (which takes up the next three chapters). The last chapter is entitled "Beyond the Higgs Boson."
Two of the middle later chapters are devoted to particle accelerators.
Three of the chapters are what I call stand-alone chapters. These chapters are entitled "Rare Processes,: "Neutrinos," and "Project X" respectively. The Rare Process chapter includes the best description of antimatter that I have ever read. Project X of Fermilab involves a high-intensity proton acceleator, sometimes called a "proton-driver."
Good, large diagrams permeate this book. These aided me considerably in my understanding of concepts.
Finally, I think a good glossary would have aided me in reading this book. True, all science terms are defined in the main narrative but if I forgot the definitions of certain terms, I found myself going frantically back to earlier sections in order to find a definition.
In conclusion, this is a fascinating and readable book. If you want to learn about the Higgs boson and what lies beyond it, this is definitely the book to read!!
XXXXX
(2013; acknowledgements; 12 chapters; main narrative 250 pages; appendix; notes; index)
XXXXX
LEARNNG ABOUT THE HIGGS BOSON AND WHAT LIES...BEYOND
XXXXX
"We have told you [in this book] the story of the Higgs boson [the "God" particle]. We have tried to give you an idea about why it exists, based upon what we've learned about the nature of mass in the [twentieth] century. We've seen how the understanding of the basic concept of "mass," known only as "quantity of matter" since the ancients, became more profound in the late twentieth century at the deepest level of the basic building blocks of nature, the elementary particles....
Throughout the...chapters [of this book] it is our goal to explain in clear and simple terms...why we need the Higgs boson to give some inkling as to what may lie beyond."
The above quote (in italics) comes from this informative book by Leon Lederman and Christopher Hill. Lederman won a shared Nobel Prize in Physics (1988) for research on neutrinos (a weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle). He is the author of several science books. Lederman is formerly the Resident Scholar of the Illenois Mathematics and Science Academy and Professor of Science at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is the director emeritus of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory of Fermilab. Hill is a noted theoretial physicist and former head of the Theory Department of Fermilab.
This book provides the best decription of the Higgs boson that I've ever read. In fact, I found all the particle physics in this book well-explained.
After an introductory chapter, the next two chapters are designed to explain particle physics (which is the exploration of the smallest things in the universe). This leads to the "story of the Higgs boson" (which takes up the next three chapters). The last chapter is entitled "Beyond the Higgs Boson."
Two of the middle later chapters are devoted to particle accelerators.
Three of the chapters are what I call stand-alone chapters. These chapters are entitled "Rare Processes,: "Neutrinos," and "Project X" respectively. The Rare Process chapter includes the best description of antimatter that I have ever read. Project X of Fermilab involves a high-intensity proton acceleator, sometimes called a "proton-driver."
Good, large diagrams permeate this book. These aided me considerably in my understanding of concepts.
Finally, I think a good glossary would have aided me in reading this book. True, all science terms are defined in the main narrative but if I forgot the definitions of certain terms, I found myself going frantically back to earlier sections in order to find a definition.
In conclusion, this is a fascinating and readable book. If you want to learn about the Higgs boson and what lies beyond it, this is definitely the book to read!!
XXXXX
(2013; acknowledgements; 12 chapters; main narrative 250 pages; appendix; notes; index)
XXXXX
July 14, 2019
There is a lot of content related to the proposed upgrades to the Large Hadron Collider which are fascinating, but I didn't see any discussion about how they plan on finding enough Liquid Helium to cool the superconducting steering and focusing magnets that will need to be used in the much larger collider ring.
I didn't read anything that could in anyone's wildest dream could be called a "spoiler" for this book. It's not fiction, or at least, it isn't supposed to be. Neither is science in general, if you are doing it right.
The book seems to leave a lot of questions I had unanswered, but otherwise, a good read. I recommend it. We will all surely miss Leon's penetrating insights on where it is we need to go next. We have conquered the "nothing" that is the Higgs boson. What strange ideas remain in the telling of the story of the TeVs which lie beyond?
I didn't read anything that could in anyone's wildest dream could be called a "spoiler" for this book. It's not fiction, or at least, it isn't supposed to be. Neither is science in general, if you are doing it right.
The book seems to leave a lot of questions I had unanswered, but otherwise, a good read. I recommend it. We will all surely miss Leon's penetrating insights on where it is we need to go next. We have conquered the "nothing" that is the Higgs boson. What strange ideas remain in the telling of the story of the TeVs which lie beyond?
January 21, 2021
Good introduction on the development of subatomic physics, its standard model, 4 forces, and the Higgs Boson. However at some parts the readers may need some basic physics knowledge to be able to grasp the idea.
The book offers some answers, as well as another new ultimate question(s), like the following excerpt:
Symmetry and its spontaneous breaking through of the Higgs particle, therefore, completely controls the mass generation of all the particles in the universe. And it appears that it is the Higgs boson, the quantum of the Higgs field, that was discovered in the two experiments, ATLAS and CMS, at CERN on July 4, 2012, with a mass of m h = 126 GeV. “What generates the Higgs boson mass?” is now the most important scientific question of our time.
That's how science works anyway..
The book offers some answers, as well as another new ultimate question(s), like the following excerpt:
Symmetry and its spontaneous breaking through of the Higgs particle, therefore, completely controls the mass generation of all the particles in the universe. And it appears that it is the Higgs boson, the quantum of the Higgs field, that was discovered in the two experiments, ATLAS and CMS, at CERN on July 4, 2012, with a mass of m h = 126 GeV. “What generates the Higgs boson mass?” is now the most important scientific question of our time.
That's how science works anyway..
December 14, 2021
Un buon libro di divulgazione scientifica, spiega molto bene come si arriva alla scoperta e alla necessità dell'esistenza del bosone di higgs. Tuttavia ha alcuni difetti, per esempio fa un po' ridere che l'autore continui a riferirsi agli USA, continuando a porre attenzioni sul fermilab e altri progetti sempre negli stati uniti. Un'altra cosa che non mi è piaciuta è che da metà libro in poi il focus esce completamente dal bosone di higgs. Ci sono anche alcune chiazze, tipo non spiega come mai il fotone non interagisce con il campo di higgs o come è stato scoperto (l'esperimento in particolare) il bosone. Inoltre alcune volte sembra avere delle imprecisioni. Nonostante questo, credo sia un buon libro da leggere se si è interessanti a questa frangia della meccanica quantistica.
December 2, 2017
I don't doubt this deserves more stars but chunks of this book were beyond me. Still I came away with a much better understanding of some of the interactions of subatomic particles than I had before. Some of the value of this is to realize that the question of what gives particles mass is a question that needs an answer. At many points I had to set the book down just to ponder.
July 30, 2018
I was really looking forward to this - the potential of human achievement and all that. It started off great, being half science textbook, half history book, and half manifesto.
However, it quickly becomes a slog. The science behind the Standard Model is dense, and despite his best efforts, the author isn't able to translate it into a level of comprehension for an average level.
However, it quickly becomes a slog. The science behind the Standard Model is dense, and despite his best efforts, the author isn't able to translate it into a level of comprehension for an average level.
July 1, 2025
Finito in meno di un mese, il libro racconta l’avventura della scoperta del bosone di Higgs, la particella responsabile della massa delle altre particelle e scoperto nel 2012 al CERN di Ginevra. Ora altre domande spetta rispondere ai fisici delle particelle, ad esempio chi da la massa al bosone di Higgs?
April 13, 2019
The authors, physicists Leon Lederman and Christopher Hill, are great at explaining complex subjects. This book, too, enriches the reader's mind with deep insights from the fascinating world of physics! Great and enjoyable read. The authors' passion for their subject is inspiring!
February 5, 2025
Mimo swojej bardzo interesującej treści, w dużej części ta książka wymagała ode mnie takiego poziomu skupienia, jakiego nie byłem jej w stanie zaoferować. W rezultacie spore fragmenty stały się dla mnie ulotne.
Read
March 23, 2017read about a third of , have to re-check it out
August 5, 2018
The Ultimate science nerd stuff, now I know why quarks are strange
April 3, 2020
Very good though difficult. I probably will come back to it to think that through once more. For passionates.
March 18, 2021
Well done, finally a book which explains why Higgs and weak interaction in intuitive terms.
January 21, 2014
"The Large Hadron Collider is the world's most powerful microscope." This book explains in plain terms what particle physicists are doing, how they do it, and why it matters.
Along the way, the authors repeatedly answer the popular question: what are the practical uses of this research, that we should spend billions of dollars smashing elementary particles together?
According to legend, "What's the use of this?", was asked of Michael Faraday while he was basically inventing electricity. The question seems ridiculous in hindsight, yet people still seriously ask it of today's fundamental research.
While many people might recognize the value of understanding reality for its own sake, the authors easily tick off dozens of useful and profitable applications of particle physics, past and present. They miss no opportunities to criticize American political shortsightedness in government funding of science. As if to put a fine point on it, they casually drop the names of China and Japan as possible contenders with America for the future of scientific dominance.
The book combines a breezy overview of subatomic physics with the history that led us to the depth of understanding we have today.
Along the way, the authors repeatedly answer the popular question: what are the practical uses of this research, that we should spend billions of dollars smashing elementary particles together?
According to legend, "What's the use of this?", was asked of Michael Faraday while he was basically inventing electricity. The question seems ridiculous in hindsight, yet people still seriously ask it of today's fundamental research.
While many people might recognize the value of understanding reality for its own sake, the authors easily tick off dozens of useful and profitable applications of particle physics, past and present. They miss no opportunities to criticize American political shortsightedness in government funding of science. As if to put a fine point on it, they casually drop the names of China and Japan as possible contenders with America for the future of scientific dominance.
The book combines a breezy overview of subatomic physics with the history that led us to the depth of understanding we have today.
May 9, 2015
Ho apprezzato questo libro perché mi ha fatto percorrere una nuova via per comprendere il ruolo del Bosone di Higgs, legandolo alla "vita" dei Muoni, e l'ho trovato molto piacevole nella lettura. Avevo già letto [[ASIN:8875783705 La particella alla fine dell'universo. La caccia al bosone di Higgs e le nuove frontiere della fisica]] ed ho apprezzato molto anche quel testo, nel quale si percorre però una strada del tutto diversa e quindi consiglio di leggerli entrambi per cercare di farvi un'idea del ruolo di questo bosone, malauguratamente chiamato la Particella di Dio, più per un ruolo mediatico che per qualche legame con Dio.. infatti ora che è stato scoperto la ricerca non finisce.. ma è solo un passo nella giusta direzione.. ora si spera di scoprire le particelle supersimmetriche per arricchire l'attuale Modello Standard, oppure di rilevare una qualche particella di Materia Oscura. Insomma, questi libri ti fanno viaggiare nel fantastico mondo della scienza più estrema, verso la comprensione delle leggi fondamentali dell'Universo, e delle nostre stesse origini.
November 24, 2014
An excellent book. Originally I found this book and realized that the older book "The God Particle" preceded “Beyond the God Particle.” So I read "The God Particle" first. Reading “The God Particle” first was unnecessary. "Beyond" is really an updated version of "The God Particle" and does not have to be read.
“Beyond” is an excellent read and makes particle physics and quantum theory about as understandable as it gets for the layman. This stuff is unimaginably hard to comprehend. But this book does as good a job as one can do in writing. I found this book fascinating and at the same time frustrating simply because particle physics and quantum theory just cannot really be understood all the time.
If you are into these subjects this book is a great choice. They also cover the role of science in global economics, how particle accelerators work, and a lot of other related subjects which were equally fascinating.
“Beyond” is an excellent read and makes particle physics and quantum theory about as understandable as it gets for the layman. This stuff is unimaginably hard to comprehend. But this book does as good a job as one can do in writing. I found this book fascinating and at the same time frustrating simply because particle physics and quantum theory just cannot really be understood all the time.
If you are into these subjects this book is a great choice. They also cover the role of science in global economics, how particle accelerators work, and a lot of other related subjects which were equally fascinating.
March 19, 2014
I enjoyed watching documentaries about this search to find the Higgs boson particle. Now that they found it, I was curious what this will mean for physicists and science. This book gives a good, well rounded understanding about that search and explains it to people like me, who may have not taken physics in school! This opens up a new world to me, which is the world of muons and particle accelerators. This is a very exciting time for physicists! I felt that excitement reading this very technical book.
December 9, 2013
A great book on Higgs Boson and beyond. After the discovery of the Higgs particle on 4th, July 2013 we were worried about position of the super-string theory. We were almost clueless about the future of the theoretical physics. But this book is very timely published, it diminishes my worries. Lederman with his all writing and imaginary skill shows ways beyond God particles. This is a very good thought provoking book on modern physics.
Read
December 9, 2014So I started this one, but never managed to come back to it. The first section put me right off with the assertion that we need to spend more money on science in the U.S., which is likely a truth but not the reason I picked up the book.
November 18, 2015
Interesting read on the significance of the higgs boson in determining the mass of elementary particles. However, in my opinion, this book is harder to understand than the other science books I have read, requiring much more prerequisite knowledge.
June 25, 2014
Nice book if you want to know from the layman perspective...I should say everyone who likes science should read the book...
December 18, 2015
Tosto e molto più "tecnico" del precedente libro (Meccanica quantistica per poeti) ma comunque ben scritto e chiaro
November 17, 2016
A bit intense for us amateurs, made me stretch, will probably come back to it when I have time to focus a bit more.
August 14, 2020
Za dużo autoprezentacji, za mało wiedzy.
Pod koniec męczyłem się, aby dotrwać do końca.
Pod koniec męczyłem się, aby dotrwać do końca.
July 30, 2016
Particle physics for layman.
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