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The Matter of Everything: A History of Discovery
How did a piece of gold foil completely change our understanding of atoms? What part did a hot air balloon play in the discovery of cosmic rays? How do we know all that we know about the world today?
It's not simply because we have the maths – it's because we have done the experiments.
Accelerator physicist Suzie Sheehy introduces us to the creative and curious people who, through a combination of genius, tenacity and luck, staged the groundbreaking experiments of the twentieth century. From the serendipitous discovery of X-rays in a German laboratory, to the scientists trying to prove Einstein wrong (and inadvertently proving him right), The Matter of Everything takes us on a journey through the history of experiments that transformed our world.
It's not simply because we have the maths – it's because we have done the experiments.
Accelerator physicist Suzie Sheehy introduces us to the creative and curious people who, through a combination of genius, tenacity and luck, staged the groundbreaking experiments of the twentieth century. From the serendipitous discovery of X-rays in a German laboratory, to the scientists trying to prove Einstein wrong (and inadvertently proving him right), The Matter of Everything takes us on a journey through the history of experiments that transformed our world.
336 pages, Paperback
First published April 28, 2022
173 people are currently reading
4578 people want to read
About the author
Suzie Sheehy
1 book36 followersSuzanne Lyn Sheehy is an Australian accelerator physicist who runs research groups at the universities of Oxford and Melbourne, where she is developing new particle accelerators for applications in medicine.
In 2010 Sheehy was awarded a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 fellowship in high intensity hadron accelerators. She was part of the collaboration that achieved the first compact electron accelerator EMMA in 2011. She was appointed to a joint position in Intense Hadron Accelerators with the University of Oxford and Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) in 2015, and is now a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Oxford.
In 2010 Sheehy was awarded a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 fellowship in high intensity hadron accelerators. She was part of the collaboration that achieved the first compact electron accelerator EMMA in 2011. She was appointed to a joint position in Intense Hadron Accelerators with the University of Oxford and Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) in 2015, and is now a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Oxford.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews
March 21, 2024
O istorie a celor mai importante experimente din fizica particulelor.
La începutul secolului XX au fost descoperite electronul, fotonul, protonul și neutronul, particule astăzi arhicunoscute. După aceea au fost descoperite particulele mai exotice, cum ar fi pozitronul, miuonul, neutrinul, cuarcul sau bosonul Higgs.
Autoarea acordă o atenție deosebită dezvoltării instrumentelor, care devin din ce în ce mai complexe și mai mari cu trecerea timpului. De exemplu. ciclotronul (un tip accelerator de particule) creat de Ernest Lawrence în 1930 avea un diametru de doar 30 de cm, în timp ce Large Hadron Collider din prezent are un diametru de 27 de kilometri. Trăim în era Big Science, a experimentelor științifice la scară mare.
La sfârșitul fiecărui capitol avem aplicațiile practice ale întelegerii particulelor. M-a impresionat folosirea miuonilor pentru "radiografierea” munților. Miuonii sunt particule care se formează la interacțiunea dintre razele cosmice (protoni cu energie mare) și gazele din atmosfera terestră superioară. Au avantajul de a pătrunde mult mai adânc în materie și de a fi dispersate mai puțin decât razele X.
Recomand
La începutul secolului XX au fost descoperite electronul, fotonul, protonul și neutronul, particule astăzi arhicunoscute. După aceea au fost descoperite particulele mai exotice, cum ar fi pozitronul, miuonul, neutrinul, cuarcul sau bosonul Higgs.
Autoarea acordă o atenție deosebită dezvoltării instrumentelor, care devin din ce în ce mai complexe și mai mari cu trecerea timpului. De exemplu. ciclotronul (un tip accelerator de particule) creat de Ernest Lawrence în 1930 avea un diametru de doar 30 de cm, în timp ce Large Hadron Collider din prezent are un diametru de 27 de kilometri. Trăim în era Big Science, a experimentelor științifice la scară mare.
La sfârșitul fiecărui capitol avem aplicațiile practice ale întelegerii particulelor. M-a impresionat folosirea miuonilor pentru "radiografierea” munților. Miuonii sunt particule care se formează la interacțiunea dintre razele cosmice (protoni cu energie mare) și gazele din atmosfera terestră superioară. Au avantajul de a pătrunde mult mai adânc în materie și de a fi dispersate mai puțin decât razele X.
Recomand
January 19, 2023
It's notable how many of the superstar physicists from Newton and Einstein through to Feynman have been theoreticians. Experimental physicists - utterly essential, apart from anything else to temper the imaginations of the theoreticians (which is probably why there are so many wild theories in cosmology) - rarely penetrate the popular imagination. Because Suzie Sheehy is covering the development of experimental particle physics here, she doesn't include arguably the greatest experimental physicist of all time, Michael Faraday - but as well as, for example, Rutherford and Thomson, there are plenty of names here that will be unfamiliar, making this an important book in uncovering the practical difficulties that particularly the early experimenters faced.
Starting with the discoveries of X-rays and the electron using cathode ray tubes, we are taken through Rutherford's evidence for the atomic nucleus, cloud chambers and cosmic rays, particle accelerators, neutrinos, quarks and the Higgs boson (though that gets relatively short coverage, perhaps because it's difficult to talk about individual experimenters). At each stage, Sheehy finishes the look at a particular topic by uncovering applications. Some of these seem a bit like the painful attempts to justify NASA spending on a handful of spinoffs - surely better simply to go for science for science's sake - though there are possibly a few surprises, such as the use of cosmic rays to get information on the innards of objects too big and/or dense to use X-rays.
It's wonderful to see the work of experimenters properly celebrated and described. On the whole, Sheehy does this at a sufficiently high level that the non-technical reader can easily follow. It helps that the more esoteric aspects of theoretical physics only get mentioned in so much as they're necessary to explain what the experiments are intended to achieve, while the big name twentieth century theoreticians, such as Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrödinger and Dirac, flit through like ghosts with little more than passing mentions.
The only real issue here is that Rutherford's infamous (but arguably accurate at the time) comment that all science is either physics or stamp collecting probably should have been 'either theoretical physics or stamp collecting'. Experimental physics is about gathering facts (and building the equipment to gather those facts), or more recently producing statistics. While the practicalities are initially fascinating, particularly in the string and sealing wax era, by the time we get onto later particle accelerators, the technology starts to lack distinction, while the huge groups involved mean that the story loses the personal touch that makes popular science easier to relate to. It's not disastrous, but the second half of the book is less interesting than the first.
There are also one or two historical inaccuracies. J. J. Thomson is described as founding director of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, where that role fell to the arguably much greater physicist James Clerk Maxwell. We are also told that Harriet Brooks was the first woman to study at the Cavendish laboratory in 1902. In fact, though change was painfully slow, the first women studied there in 1878.
However, these are minor issues - the book is a useful reminder of how the experimental side of physics has been underplayed in popular science and arguably undervalued in the wider field - it would be great if Sheehy could follow up with a similar look at other aspects of experimental physics.
Starting with the discoveries of X-rays and the electron using cathode ray tubes, we are taken through Rutherford's evidence for the atomic nucleus, cloud chambers and cosmic rays, particle accelerators, neutrinos, quarks and the Higgs boson (though that gets relatively short coverage, perhaps because it's difficult to talk about individual experimenters). At each stage, Sheehy finishes the look at a particular topic by uncovering applications. Some of these seem a bit like the painful attempts to justify NASA spending on a handful of spinoffs - surely better simply to go for science for science's sake - though there are possibly a few surprises, such as the use of cosmic rays to get information on the innards of objects too big and/or dense to use X-rays.
It's wonderful to see the work of experimenters properly celebrated and described. On the whole, Sheehy does this at a sufficiently high level that the non-technical reader can easily follow. It helps that the more esoteric aspects of theoretical physics only get mentioned in so much as they're necessary to explain what the experiments are intended to achieve, while the big name twentieth century theoreticians, such as Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrödinger and Dirac, flit through like ghosts with little more than passing mentions.
The only real issue here is that Rutherford's infamous (but arguably accurate at the time) comment that all science is either physics or stamp collecting probably should have been 'either theoretical physics or stamp collecting'. Experimental physics is about gathering facts (and building the equipment to gather those facts), or more recently producing statistics. While the practicalities are initially fascinating, particularly in the string and sealing wax era, by the time we get onto later particle accelerators, the technology starts to lack distinction, while the huge groups involved mean that the story loses the personal touch that makes popular science easier to relate to. It's not disastrous, but the second half of the book is less interesting than the first.
There are also one or two historical inaccuracies. J. J. Thomson is described as founding director of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, where that role fell to the arguably much greater physicist James Clerk Maxwell. We are also told that Harriet Brooks was the first woman to study at the Cavendish laboratory in 1902. In fact, though change was painfully slow, the first women studied there in 1878.
However, these are minor issues - the book is a useful reminder of how the experimental side of physics has been underplayed in popular science and arguably undervalued in the wider field - it would be great if Sheehy could follow up with a similar look at other aspects of experimental physics.
February 3, 2025
This was a great book and I feel like I gained a lot of insight from it, but my physics knowledge is so limited that at times it was rough. Especially the last few chapters, I was just reading words and not comprehending much, but I tried. I love her introduction and conclusion the best (which I am finding to be a recurring theme in these science books). The conclusion did a great job of pulling everything together and asking important questions about the future of science and how we continue to innovate and expand our knowledge. I agree that progress is rooted in curiosity-driven research and open concept experiments that are not governed by fast monetary gain. We need to explore questions, not seek answers.
January 11, 2024
(Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley)
The story of the atom and quantum mechanics has been written many times, but usually, it is the theorists who take the glory and the experimentalists who play second fiddle. Here the roles are reversed with the lab workers cast in the starring role and the theoreticians their support act.
This book started quite slowly for me with a very familiar tale of the story of the discovery of the nature of the atom, starting with Röntgen and X-rays, and progressing to the discovery of the electrons and then the nucleus. But gradually a pattern began to emerge: it was the experimentalists who were discovering all this stuff. Theoreticians like Bohr, Schrodinger, Planck and Einstein barely get a mention.
As the book progresses, the experiments gradually get more complicated and start to involve more people and require massive amounts of organisation and funding. I remember doing variants of some of the early experiments myself on a lab workbench during my time as a Physics undergraduate, but the days when a brilliant individual can break new ground in particle physics in the corner of a lab have, it would seem, long disappeared.
In reality, each of the experimentalists is drawing on the work of those before them (standing on the shoulders of giants as Newton said) and Suzie Sheehy has made a good job at making this a near-continuous narrative of discoveries built upon their predecessors.
Again and again, in every chapter, the author points out the technology spin-offs of the search for the understanding of matter, and the list of unintended benefits is very impressive. Nobody should question the value of funding first-class research in these areas.
It looks like Dark Matter is where the next progress is likely to be made, and it is extraordinary how, despite all the work described in the book, and the brilliant lives devoted to research, there is still so much which is not understood.
If there is a theme to this book for me it is: look at all this we have achieved, and we have to continue.
The story of the atom and quantum mechanics has been written many times, but usually, it is the theorists who take the glory and the experimentalists who play second fiddle. Here the roles are reversed with the lab workers cast in the starring role and the theoreticians their support act.
This book started quite slowly for me with a very familiar tale of the story of the discovery of the nature of the atom, starting with Röntgen and X-rays, and progressing to the discovery of the electrons and then the nucleus. But gradually a pattern began to emerge: it was the experimentalists who were discovering all this stuff. Theoreticians like Bohr, Schrodinger, Planck and Einstein barely get a mention.
As the book progresses, the experiments gradually get more complicated and start to involve more people and require massive amounts of organisation and funding. I remember doing variants of some of the early experiments myself on a lab workbench during my time as a Physics undergraduate, but the days when a brilliant individual can break new ground in particle physics in the corner of a lab have, it would seem, long disappeared.
In reality, each of the experimentalists is drawing on the work of those before them (standing on the shoulders of giants as Newton said) and Suzie Sheehy has made a good job at making this a near-continuous narrative of discoveries built upon their predecessors.
Again and again, in every chapter, the author points out the technology spin-offs of the search for the understanding of matter, and the list of unintended benefits is very impressive. Nobody should question the value of funding first-class research in these areas.
It looks like Dark Matter is where the next progress is likely to be made, and it is extraordinary how, despite all the work described in the book, and the brilliant lives devoted to research, there is still so much which is not understood.
If there is a theme to this book for me it is: look at all this we have achieved, and we have to continue.
April 12, 2022
Dr Suzie Sheehy (as she never styles herself in the book), is a particle accelerator physicist and - here - as elsewhere a science communicator. Luckily in The Matter Of Everything she is communicating about her precise subject, particle physics, and attempting in a history of twelve experiments to justify its existence. There is much of the book where she pulls back a curtain on a world of consumer goods and a whole host of cancer treatments and just says look at what you have won by backing this horse. And then she pulls the curtain back, describes the development of yet another particle accelerator and wants to yell at you - "but isn't this amazing". She doesn't yell, the book manages to just about walk the tightrope of popular science of trying to keep the reader up with mind-blowing developments on the tiniest scale, but she also knows this stuff costs money.
It is not her fault that the book falls broadly into two distinct phases. The first half is a pretty breathless race through the discovery of the building blocks of the universe. The atom, then the electrons and then - well we keep going. And the jerry rigged experiments of the early stage, the scientists building cloud chambers on magners, naturally hits the second half where the scientific industrial complex builds bigger and bigger accelerators, colliders and cyclotrons (sadly by this point he word Jumbotron was already taken). She also almost paints herself into a corner by being trapped by the great man view of history 9No matter how many great women she tries to rescue). Her real conclusion, at the very end is all about co-operation. That if particle science can teach us anything its that none of these advances were made in a vacuum*, that they were made in the spirit of co-operation, massive teamwork and scientific excitement - which sometimes the tale of Rutherford in the Cavendish Lab doesn't always bring out.
You're stuck with the history you have, and by the time we get to the Large Hadron Collider and the Higgs-Boson, we are on the fifth iteration of the same story. And yet in her conclusion, she casually drops in the fact that we don't know what 95% of the mass of the universe is made up of (Dark Matter is still a near complete mystery). Its in many ways an odd conclusion to put together, she obviously wants to dazzle us with the beauty of science, but also lets us know that if we become scientists, we will also gain the skills to become successful entrepreneurs of or work in finance. That slight hint of desperation is understandable, those next leaps almost certainly come from an even bigger collider with the kind of price tag no individual country is picking up. Not even for a glimpse past that curtain at even better microwaves. Its fascinating stuff, brought to life, but its that wistful pause at the end that really got to me. The end of scence really is when we stop paying for it.
*Some were made in a vacuum tube.
It is not her fault that the book falls broadly into two distinct phases. The first half is a pretty breathless race through the discovery of the building blocks of the universe. The atom, then the electrons and then - well we keep going. And the jerry rigged experiments of the early stage, the scientists building cloud chambers on magners, naturally hits the second half where the scientific industrial complex builds bigger and bigger accelerators, colliders and cyclotrons (sadly by this point he word Jumbotron was already taken). She also almost paints herself into a corner by being trapped by the great man view of history 9No matter how many great women she tries to rescue). Her real conclusion, at the very end is all about co-operation. That if particle science can teach us anything its that none of these advances were made in a vacuum*, that they were made in the spirit of co-operation, massive teamwork and scientific excitement - which sometimes the tale of Rutherford in the Cavendish Lab doesn't always bring out.
You're stuck with the history you have, and by the time we get to the Large Hadron Collider and the Higgs-Boson, we are on the fifth iteration of the same story. And yet in her conclusion, she casually drops in the fact that we don't know what 95% of the mass of the universe is made up of (Dark Matter is still a near complete mystery). Its in many ways an odd conclusion to put together, she obviously wants to dazzle us with the beauty of science, but also lets us know that if we become scientists, we will also gain the skills to become successful entrepreneurs of or work in finance. That slight hint of desperation is understandable, those next leaps almost certainly come from an even bigger collider with the kind of price tag no individual country is picking up. Not even for a glimpse past that curtain at even better microwaves. Its fascinating stuff, brought to life, but its that wistful pause at the end that really got to me. The end of scence really is when we stop paying for it.
*Some were made in a vacuum tube.
March 28, 2023
The Matter of Everything is a celebration of curiosity, good collaboration, and human ingenuity. The book, indeed, is a journey that starts from discovery of electron and takes us to the Higgs Boson. And the beautiful part is, the journey is still not over yet. Finding Higgs boson gives direction for further exploration and it is just another beginning.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. People like Dr. Suzie Sheehy are the intellectual heroes who are doing service to humanity by drafting such books and allowing non-science people into the world of scientific breakthroughs by not only answering but also making us understand big questions about matter and the universe. About our origins. I highly recommend. This book should be on everyone’s shelf.
More from my blog post: The Matter of Everything
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. People like Dr. Suzie Sheehy are the intellectual heroes who are doing service to humanity by drafting such books and allowing non-science people into the world of scientific breakthroughs by not only answering but also making us understand big questions about matter and the universe. About our origins. I highly recommend. This book should be on everyone’s shelf.
More from my blog post: The Matter of Everything
April 13, 2022
Who knew physics could be so much fun! I never realised that physics underpins so many important discoveries, from hot air balloon flights to the discovery of X rays and smart phone chips. What makes this book so readable is that you see it from the side of the innovative scientists who made these discoveries. The human aspect is well told and invites you to keep reading what could have been a dry and unappealing subject. Try it and learn about physics in an easy-to read way.
April 30, 2024
I’m not a big reader of popular science books, because I find they tend to “dumb down” concepts and talk in metaphors to avoid any kind of rigorous math. However, I really enjoyed this book as a general history of particle physics and its impact on our daily lives. Definitely underscores the importance of seeing beyond direct “applications” of physics and promoting curiosity driven research.
Want to read
January 14, 2023WSJ's positive review:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-matt...
(Paywalled. As always, I'm happy to email a copy to non-subscribers)
"Ms. Sheehy, a particle physicist who splits her time between labs at Oxford and the University of Melbourne, radiates enthusiasm for her field. She calls it “one of the most awe-inspiring, intricate and creative adventures that humans have ever embarked on.” The author also wants to make sure readers understand that advanced physics is an intensely collaborative endeavor. Even the most brilliant theories can’t be accepted until they’ve been confirmed in the complex, often uncooperative physical world. And that takes experimentation."
Published January 10, 2023
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-matt...
(Paywalled. As always, I'm happy to email a copy to non-subscribers)
"Ms. Sheehy, a particle physicist who splits her time between labs at Oxford and the University of Melbourne, radiates enthusiasm for her field. She calls it “one of the most awe-inspiring, intricate and creative adventures that humans have ever embarked on.” The author also wants to make sure readers understand that advanced physics is an intensely collaborative endeavor. Even the most brilliant theories can’t be accepted until they’ve been confirmed in the complex, often uncooperative physical world. And that takes experimentation."
Published January 10, 2023
March 17, 2023
There is so much interesting stuff happening in the world that we are just not aware of. Most of us remain in awe of the progress happening in particle physics and this book does an extremely good job of weaving a cohesive story of the progress made through time, the dynamics around each major milestone and how such discoveries has a direct and tangible impact on our everyday lives.
Even though the language and content must have been dumbed down for average readers, I am sure this will be enjoyed much more by someone knowledgeable of classical and particle physics.
Even though the language and content must have been dumbed down for average readers, I am sure this will be enjoyed much more by someone knowledgeable of classical and particle physics.
November 8, 2022
Reading about different physics experiments from brilliant minds all around the world are both fascinating and also mindblowing. With complex concepts introduced in an interesting narratives, the author, a physicist herself make the book about particles sounds interesting. As someone who came from science background, with more knowledge on biology and psychology than physics, i found the detailing and explanations in here are easy to follow. However, i do think it can get very hard to follow for those who are not familiar with many of the technical terms in physics and can hinder your reading.
Though its always intriguing to read these amazing discoveries by scientists and how they contributed to our society from MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging) used to scan our internal organs/body thus we can determine exact location of certain disease, to x rays, tungsten bulb, hot air balloons. We should understand that with each theorization invented by one scientist will then get polished or experimented by another to improve from the previous theory and with this, there is constant evolving theory and experimentation. Meaning there are so many things to be researched and yet they are still not fully understood. The scope of life is infinite and also finite at the same time depending on how we perceive them.
Though its always intriguing to read these amazing discoveries by scientists and how they contributed to our society from MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging) used to scan our internal organs/body thus we can determine exact location of certain disease, to x rays, tungsten bulb, hot air balloons. We should understand that with each theorization invented by one scientist will then get polished or experimented by another to improve from the previous theory and with this, there is constant evolving theory and experimentation. Meaning there are so many things to be researched and yet they are still not fully understood. The scope of life is infinite and also finite at the same time depending on how we perceive them.
May 12, 2024
Interessant boek, maar een beetje te veel van het goeie voor mij, wat 'saai' aan het worden naar het einde toe.
November 8, 2024
A book on particle physics that I really, really enjoyed.
Suzie starts out explaining the early experiments that led to the discovery of the electron, proton, neutron and then guides you through the evolution of particle accelerator experiments from hacked-together-in-a-lab to the 27km long Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
With the breadth of topics that are mentioned here, you can tell it's written by an extraordinarily curious person - something I have very high admiration for.
Also really enjoyed her Royal Institution lecture
https://youtu.be/aXg3edeUrtc?si=hWjlT...
Suzie starts out explaining the early experiments that led to the discovery of the electron, proton, neutron and then guides you through the evolution of particle accelerator experiments from hacked-together-in-a-lab to the 27km long Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
With the breadth of topics that are mentioned here, you can tell it's written by an extraordinarily curious person - something I have very high admiration for.
Also really enjoyed her Royal Institution lecture
https://youtu.be/aXg3edeUrtc?si=hWjlT...
December 28, 2022
Leggere e capire un libro di Fisica per me è semplice come cesellare i bordi di un francobollo con uno scalpello da ghiaccio, ringrazio quindi libri come questo che rendono così avvincente la comprensione di concetti a volte per me molto ostici.
Parlare degli esperimenti che hanno portato a certe scoperte per poi spiegarne la portata, è un punto di vista originale e sicuramente vincente.
Consiglio questo libro anche ai giovani studenti che si chiedono quale potrebbe essere la loro carriera lavorativa, una volta intrapreso il cammino dello studio della Fisica, c’è un capitolo dedicato anche a voi.
Parlare degli esperimenti che hanno portato a certe scoperte per poi spiegarne la portata, è un punto di vista originale e sicuramente vincente.
Consiglio questo libro anche ai giovani studenti che si chiedono quale potrebbe essere la loro carriera lavorativa, una volta intrapreso il cammino dello studio della Fisica, c’è un capitolo dedicato anche a voi.
May 22, 2022
definitely coming at it from the POV of a physicist, rather than a historian but her love of the subject came through, and an enjoyable read
June 30, 2022
I appreciated this so much, a deep-dive into the history of our understanding of matter. Not even close to a subject I'm familiar with but curiosity in any science is fascinating to me!
February 10, 2024
A gold standard for those who have studied or love physics.
The stories behind the 12 experiments has been written very well and are very interesting.
The stories behind the 12 experiments has been written very well and are very interesting.
June 12, 2023
What an amazing book. I cannot think of another that I have enjoyed more than this one. The concept is straight forward - a recount of the 12 great experiments that lead us to our current state of knowledge in physics, and particularly particle physics. I presume that this book is, or soon will be, on the reading list for university students interested in physics, and maybe STEM in general.
As I read, it became apparent that the author was weaving three stories into one. The obvious story is that of these key discoveries that helped further the understanding of the atom and beyond. That story is fascinating but it is only part of the book.
The second story is how these experiments changed not just the world of academic physics but the world we all experience every day. From Wilhelmin Rontgen discovering that he could see the bones in his hand and accidentally giving birth the medical imaging (X-rays), to CRRNs need to handle and share massive amounts of data, leading to the creation of the World Wide Web and the data warehouses we all use constantly, we learn of the origin of inventions we now take for granted.
The third story is one about people and the role of collaboration. The scale of the modern physics experiments (really programs of experiments) is mind boggling and the number of individuals involved amazing. Those outside of academia may think that research is an individual avocation, pursued in isolation from others. As someone who spent a career inside universities doing research and teaching (albeit in the very different field of financial economics), I can attest that research is a team sport (even if my teams were much smaller).
Who should read this book? Obviously, anyone interested in physics including the students I mentioned earlier. This also should be required reading for any politician or bureaucrat involved in funding decisions for academic research. If the funders of these 12 projects had made their decisions based on the NPV of the projects known in advance, none would have happened, and countless innovations of great worth (financial and non-financial) would not have come to fruition.
As I read, it became apparent that the author was weaving three stories into one. The obvious story is that of these key discoveries that helped further the understanding of the atom and beyond. That story is fascinating but it is only part of the book.
The second story is how these experiments changed not just the world of academic physics but the world we all experience every day. From Wilhelmin Rontgen discovering that he could see the bones in his hand and accidentally giving birth the medical imaging (X-rays), to CRRNs need to handle and share massive amounts of data, leading to the creation of the World Wide Web and the data warehouses we all use constantly, we learn of the origin of inventions we now take for granted.
The third story is one about people and the role of collaboration. The scale of the modern physics experiments (really programs of experiments) is mind boggling and the number of individuals involved amazing. Those outside of academia may think that research is an individual avocation, pursued in isolation from others. As someone who spent a career inside universities doing research and teaching (albeit in the very different field of financial economics), I can attest that research is a team sport (even if my teams were much smaller).
Who should read this book? Obviously, anyone interested in physics including the students I mentioned earlier. This also should be required reading for any politician or bureaucrat involved in funding decisions for academic research. If the funders of these 12 projects had made their decisions based on the NPV of the projects known in advance, none would have happened, and countless innovations of great worth (financial and non-financial) would not have come to fruition.
November 11, 2023
Erfindungen und wie sie das menschliche Leben verändert haben. Was ist eigentlich das Röntgen? Wer hat es erfunden und überhaupt wie? Was sind Atome und Radioaktivität?
All diese interessanten Themen werden in diesem Buch thematisiert.
All diese interessanten Themen werden in diesem Buch thematisiert.
May 8, 2022
This book made me both amazed by the human process the led to the discovery's studied during m undergraduate degree and looking back fondly at my year in the Manchester University particle physics department. 😀
July 12, 2022
Beautifully written, beautifully read. It was startling to fall back into a particle physics past--I couldn't even remember the second generation quarks, embarrassing--but this story brings it all to life again, perhaps moreso than it was ever brought to life to begin with!
Disclosure: I'm friends with the author, but it's no mean feat to inspire me with physics again--colour me inspired. Someone please tell me the shortcut version of this month's fifth force discovery news articles.
Disclosure: I'm friends with the author, but it's no mean feat to inspire me with physics again--colour me inspired. Someone please tell me the shortcut version of this month's fifth force discovery news articles.
April 28, 2024
Fantastic retelling of physics history!
I have read many books which tell the story of the modern physics revolution. This book is one of the absolute best I have read on this topic. The author does a great job telling the story of how physics advanced since the late 1800s, including discussing several meaningful contributions from less well known scientists. I loved the structure of each chapter connecting to a laboratory or collaboration. This is a fantastic read for any physics student or anyone interested in why high energy physics came to be done the way it is today.
I have read many books which tell the story of the modern physics revolution. This book is one of the absolute best I have read on this topic. The author does a great job telling the story of how physics advanced since the late 1800s, including discussing several meaningful contributions from less well known scientists. I loved the structure of each chapter connecting to a laboratory or collaboration. This is a fantastic read for any physics student or anyone interested in why high energy physics came to be done the way it is today.
October 5, 2022
The amazing world of the infinitesimally small
Review- Suzie Sheehy has done a marvellous job in showing the importance of physics in our everyday lives. Taking us through 12 key experiments she takes us from the early days of discovering the nature of matter right the way through to CERN, the Large Hadron Collider and the detection of the Higgs Boson. It’s quite a ride.
The stories of the individuals concerned, the history of the experiments and the discoveries made are fascinating but what struck me most is that far from being secreted away in academia todays physicists are a shining example of the values of collaboration and sharing. From the world wide web to using particle accelerators to improve medical diagnosis and the treatment of cancer CERN now shares it’s work and discoveries openly for the good of mankind. In some cases the technologies are shared before they can even make use of them themselves to maximise the benefits to others.
For me this elevates the book and the work physicists do. I finished the book with a greatly increased respect for their dedication to finding the answers to some of the biggest questions about the nature of the universe. But even more so for showing that collaboration and sharing knowledge can deliver so much more for the human race as a whole. There are important lessons here that can be applied to business and life.
I would have given the book five stars but the version I read lacked diagrams and illustrations which I felt would have supported and enhanced the text.
Review- Suzie Sheehy has done a marvellous job in showing the importance of physics in our everyday lives. Taking us through 12 key experiments she takes us from the early days of discovering the nature of matter right the way through to CERN, the Large Hadron Collider and the detection of the Higgs Boson. It’s quite a ride.
The stories of the individuals concerned, the history of the experiments and the discoveries made are fascinating but what struck me most is that far from being secreted away in academia todays physicists are a shining example of the values of collaboration and sharing. From the world wide web to using particle accelerators to improve medical diagnosis and the treatment of cancer CERN now shares it’s work and discoveries openly for the good of mankind. In some cases the technologies are shared before they can even make use of them themselves to maximise the benefits to others.
For me this elevates the book and the work physicists do. I finished the book with a greatly increased respect for their dedication to finding the answers to some of the biggest questions about the nature of the universe. But even more so for showing that collaboration and sharing knowledge can deliver so much more for the human race as a whole. There are important lessons here that can be applied to business and life.
I would have given the book five stars but the version I read lacked diagrams and illustrations which I felt would have supported and enhanced the text.
May 30, 2022
I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
For anyone with a better understanding of physics, I can imagine this book being a treasure trove of fascinating historical facts about their field. However, I struggled with this one. I generally enjoy history of science and especially how scientific thought has developed over time, but I don't have a background in science myself. I do have experience in scientific communication, though, and can appreciate that it is tricky. Finding the right balance between accurate information and keeping everything understandable for a lay reader is hard. This book erred on the side of precise, scientific explanations, and I often felt overwhelmed by the level of detail here. From context cues, it was obvious that certain changes to an experiment, for example, were revolutionary, but as I know nothing about physics, the importance of those changes were completely lost on me, and therefore I had trouble engaging with the story outlined here.
For anyone with a better understanding of physics, I can imagine this book being a treasure trove of fascinating historical facts about their field. However, I struggled with this one. I generally enjoy history of science and especially how scientific thought has developed over time, but I don't have a background in science myself. I do have experience in scientific communication, though, and can appreciate that it is tricky. Finding the right balance between accurate information and keeping everything understandable for a lay reader is hard. This book erred on the side of precise, scientific explanations, and I often felt overwhelmed by the level of detail here. From context cues, it was obvious that certain changes to an experiment, for example, were revolutionary, but as I know nothing about physics, the importance of those changes were completely lost on me, and therefore I had trouble engaging with the story outlined here.
May 1, 2022
I was looking forward to reading this book as I struggle with many of the concepts in physics and was hoping to understand more, particularly as they often seem to describe the very essence of life.
I imagine as an author it is very difficult to pitch a book like this at the right level for most readers and unfortunately this wasn't the book to help me as I think I need a better level of understanding to start with and I felt a bit lost even in the author's introduction. I'm not sure if it was just my particular downloaded copy but I also struggled with sudden changes from experiments to biography of the scientist involved and their hairstyle. (part 1)
I tried dipping in and out but sadly in the end I didn't finish the book. I'm sure many other readers will really enjoy it though.
thank you to netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an advance copy of this book
I imagine as an author it is very difficult to pitch a book like this at the right level for most readers and unfortunately this wasn't the book to help me as I think I need a better level of understanding to start with and I felt a bit lost even in the author's introduction. I'm not sure if it was just my particular downloaded copy but I also struggled with sudden changes from experiments to biography of the scientist involved and their hairstyle. (part 1)
I tried dipping in and out but sadly in the end I didn't finish the book. I'm sure many other readers will really enjoy it though.
thank you to netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an advance copy of this book
August 19, 2023
Though a laudable goal, telling the story of atomic and particle physics and the astonishing array of objects in everyday life that derived from these activities is certainly ambitious but this book does not really do anything very well. The discussion of the underlying science is often thin, not really intended to convey a good grasp, the absence of diagrams alone in so mathematical a realm says a lot. The excitement of discovery is there in fits and starts but the long story arc prohibits any very in depth look at any of the individuals involved. I think this book will likely appeal to people who have a fairly limited knowledge of science and would be happy with a “this was the question, this is who solved it and how, and this what it meant” sort of book.
August 10, 2022
A fascinating read, carefully explained. The author brings her own scientific experience and enthusiasm to these stories of discovery and writes really well. An excellent history of the search for fundamental particles. My prior knowledge of science in general is pretty rudimentary but this book provided a good basic understanding of the standard model of particle physics - and it was always engaging and even exciting!
September 22, 2022
Quantum books take you from Newton to Faraday to Maxwell to Planck to Einstein to Bohr.
This book takes you on a similar Particle journey from X-rays, electrons & Microwaves through to the LHC @ CERN.
Really good book. I especially liked the practical spin-offs that came out of these discoveries, in particular all the medical advances e.g. NMR, CT scans, radiotherapy etc…
This book takes you on a similar Particle journey from X-rays, electrons & Microwaves through to the LHC @ CERN.
Really good book. I especially liked the practical spin-offs that came out of these discoveries, in particular all the medical advances e.g. NMR, CT scans, radiotherapy etc…
October 10, 2024
Edited: aMy partner and I were in a bookshop over the weekend and she suggested I might like to read this. I wasn’t so sure. In a previous life I started an applied physics degree. So really, I should find books on physics more than a little interesting. But too often books that say they are for a popular audience are so hard and require so much maths that it is hard to know how they got published. And I’m not a fan of string theory or multiple universes – and so find books on those topics dull as dishwater. Part of the problem is that I can’t for the life of me see how they will make any difference to how I understand the world, even if they are proven to be true. It’s not that I want everything in life to have a direct and pragmatic application to my life – but even if there is another Trevor in a parallel universe who doesn’t write book reviews, what am I to make of that? And as an episode of The Goodies from a million years ago sang, “String, string, string, string, everybody loves string”.
But I got the book and read it, despite my concerns. And I’m so glad I did. This book is a must read. It is beautifully accessible, it is invariably interesting and a delight to read. Better than that, it not only tells you the history of the experiments she is describing, but why they brought about a revolution in how we understand the world and then – as if this wasn’t enough – the everyday things we take for granted that would not have existed if these experiments had never taken place.
Someone once said that all of science is history – but Thomas Kuhn in his Structure of Scientific Revolutions says that most scientists know nothing of the history of science and that this is a huge problem. He says this is why paradigm shifts go almost completely unnoticed in science, but it is also a problem because sometimes knowing how we got here is a good way to know where we are going next. One of the things the author does particularly well is in telling us about the female scientists who were often instrumental in some of the most important discoveries in science, but that almost invariably they were also unacknowledged. In one case, despite having the support of one of the most important scientists, one was forced to leave her job because she chose to get married. Knowing this history is important because it alerts us to the structural issues that overly impact female scientists – something the end of the book also makes clear has not gone away with time.
The book is structured so that it begins with the story behind the discovery – so you get someone noticing a strange green light coming from a cathode ray tube. Then they notice that this light passes through some materials and is stopped by more dense materials. Then they realise that if you shine it on the human body you can see the bones. They get their wife to put their hand in front of it and it shows the bones in her hand and her wedding ring. She only sees what she will look like when she is dead and never comes back into the laboratory every again. One of the side facts in this that make it such compelling reading. This then is the start of x-rays – seeing what cannot otherwise be seen. Many of the stories in this are then linked back to medical advances due to these otherwise seemingly purely theoretical experiments. She does work seeking to make medical imaging technology cheaper and therefore more affordable for those in developing nations. So, unlike other books that say things like – we use Quantum Physics every day – she explains where and how.
The end of the book also paints a grim picture of the short-term thinking that drives scientists out of academia – and not just female scientists, although it is clear they are disproportionately impacted. As someone who has been on short-term academic research contracts for the whole seven years, the ‘push factors’ from universities are difficult to comprehend from outside. Everyone talks about how important it is that we have more people qualified in STEM – but without a career afterwards it is hardly surprising they don’t. Both of my daughters were encouraged through high school to study an Asian language. The government at the time saw the pivot to Asia in the Asian century is essential to Australia’s future prosperity. They both studied Japanese at university. Both of them ended up for a while working in the only job they could find to use their Japanese language skills, in a tourist agency. Needless to say, this was not quite the career they had anticipated. They both love Japan and the language, but the costs to them far outweigh the benefits.
This really is a lovely book. It deserves to be read. You’ll learn so much from it – and it is a very easy and quick read. A total delight.
But I got the book and read it, despite my concerns. And I’m so glad I did. This book is a must read. It is beautifully accessible, it is invariably interesting and a delight to read. Better than that, it not only tells you the history of the experiments she is describing, but why they brought about a revolution in how we understand the world and then – as if this wasn’t enough – the everyday things we take for granted that would not have existed if these experiments had never taken place.
Someone once said that all of science is history – but Thomas Kuhn in his Structure of Scientific Revolutions says that most scientists know nothing of the history of science and that this is a huge problem. He says this is why paradigm shifts go almost completely unnoticed in science, but it is also a problem because sometimes knowing how we got here is a good way to know where we are going next. One of the things the author does particularly well is in telling us about the female scientists who were often instrumental in some of the most important discoveries in science, but that almost invariably they were also unacknowledged. In one case, despite having the support of one of the most important scientists, one was forced to leave her job because she chose to get married. Knowing this history is important because it alerts us to the structural issues that overly impact female scientists – something the end of the book also makes clear has not gone away with time.
The book is structured so that it begins with the story behind the discovery – so you get someone noticing a strange green light coming from a cathode ray tube. Then they notice that this light passes through some materials and is stopped by more dense materials. Then they realise that if you shine it on the human body you can see the bones. They get their wife to put their hand in front of it and it shows the bones in her hand and her wedding ring. She only sees what she will look like when she is dead and never comes back into the laboratory every again. One of the side facts in this that make it such compelling reading. This then is the start of x-rays – seeing what cannot otherwise be seen. Many of the stories in this are then linked back to medical advances due to these otherwise seemingly purely theoretical experiments. She does work seeking to make medical imaging technology cheaper and therefore more affordable for those in developing nations. So, unlike other books that say things like – we use Quantum Physics every day – she explains where and how.
The end of the book also paints a grim picture of the short-term thinking that drives scientists out of academia – and not just female scientists, although it is clear they are disproportionately impacted. As someone who has been on short-term academic research contracts for the whole seven years, the ‘push factors’ from universities are difficult to comprehend from outside. Everyone talks about how important it is that we have more people qualified in STEM – but without a career afterwards it is hardly surprising they don’t. Both of my daughters were encouraged through high school to study an Asian language. The government at the time saw the pivot to Asia in the Asian century is essential to Australia’s future prosperity. They both studied Japanese at university. Both of them ended up for a while working in the only job they could find to use their Japanese language skills, in a tourist agency. Needless to say, this was not quite the career they had anticipated. They both love Japan and the language, but the costs to them far outweigh the benefits.
This really is a lovely book. It deserves to be read. You’ll learn so much from it – and it is a very easy and quick read. A total delight.
August 4, 2025
طوبى لمن يكتب العلوم هكذا، وهذه - بالطبع - أمنية وليست حكمًا :)
ما كانت علاقتي بكتب الفيزياء وثيقة، ولم أكن ممن يطرقون أبواب المختبرات أو يتتبعون المعادلات. غير أن كتاب “جوهر كل شيء” للدكتورة سوزي شيهي جذبني بأسلوبه الإنساني وطرحه الحكائي، ففتح أمامي طريقًا لفهم العلم من زاوية مختلفة، تبدأ من ومضة في مختبر صغير، وتمتد إلى أفق كوني فسيح.
في عام 1895، كان الفيزيائي الألماني فيلهلم رونتغن يراقب شاشة مطلية بالفوسفور حين لاحظ توهّجًا أخضر ناجمًا عن الأشعة المهبطية. سجّل ملاحظته تحت اسم “أشعة إكس”، ومن تلك اللحظة، انطلقت رحلة غيرت وجه الطب والفيزياء، إذ أصبحت هذه الأشعة تُستخدم لتصوير أجساد الجنود في ساحات المعارك، ورؤية الشظايا والكسور في داخلهم.
توالت بعدها الاكتشافات التي أزاحت الغطاء عن طبيعة الذرّة. اكتشف ج. ج. طومسون الإلكترون، وكشف روذرفورد عن وجود نواة صغيرة محاطة بفراغ شاسع داخل الذرّة. ثم جاء أينشتاين ليثبت أن الضوء قادر على تحرير الإلكترونات من أسطح المعادن بناءً على تردده، فغيّر التصور السائد عن طبيعة الضوء والمادة.
أسلوب شيهي بعيد عن الجفاف النظري، تكتب بعين من يروي قصة، وتُدخل القارئ في صلب الأحداث. تظهر التجارب في كتابها كأنها محطات على طريق طويل من الدهشة، تقودها الأسئلة وتدفعها الرغبة الصادقة في الفهم.
عندما احتاج العلماء إلى رؤية الجسيمات، صنعوا غرفًا للسحاب تُظهر أثرها، وحين ضاقت بهم إمكانات الطبيعة، ابتكروا مسرّعات تقلّد الأشعة الكونية. من السيكلوترون إلى السنكروترون، وصولًا إلى مصادم الهادرونات الكبير، ارتفع سقف المعرفة بتوازي مع توسّع الخيال العلمي.
توقفت الكاتبة عند أسماء نسائية أسهمت في تشكيل هذا التاريخ، رغم تهميشها في الروايات الكبرى: هارييت بروكس، ماريتا بلاو، بيبه شودهوري، إليزا مايتنر، وهيلين إدواردز. لكل واحدة منهن حكاية من المثابرة والعلم، سواء في قمة جبل، أو بين أروقة المختبر، أو خلف عدسات التصوير التي التقطت أثر الجسيمات.
مع اقتراب السرد من لحظة هيروشيما، يبرز الوعي الأخلاقي للعلماء. فقد أدركوا أن التقدّم بحاجة إلى مسؤولية، وأن البحث يزدهر حين يقوم على التعاون. يتجسّد هذا التوجه في مصادم الهادرونات الكبير، الذي يشترك فيه علماء من مختلف البلدان سعياً لاكتشاف أسرار الكون بروح جماعية.
تختم شيهي كتابها بثلاث دعائم تصوغ بها رؤيتها للعلم: طرح الأسئلة بذكاء، تغذية روح الفضول، والتمسك بالمثابرة. هذه القيم تمثل جوهر الرحلة العلمية كما تراها: مسار طويل تقوده الرغبة في الفهم والقدرة على الاستمرار.
“جوهر كل شيء” تأمل دافئ في علاقة الإنسان بالعالم الذي يسكنه. يحمل القارئ من شرارة في مختبر إلى سؤال كوني كبير، ويجعله يدرك أن كل تقدم في الفيزياء كان انعكاسًا لحاجة داخلية إلى الفهم.
الكتاب تجربة فكرية وإنسانية، ويصلح أن يكون جسرًا بين من يرى العلم بعيدًا، وبين أولئك الذين جعلوا منه وسيلة لمعرفة الذات والوجود.
ما كانت علاقتي بكتب الفيزياء وثيقة، ولم أكن ممن يطرقون أبواب المختبرات أو يتتبعون المعادلات. غير أن كتاب “جوهر كل شيء” للدكتورة سوزي شيهي جذبني بأسلوبه الإنساني وطرحه الحكائي، ففتح أمامي طريقًا لفهم العلم من زاوية مختلفة، تبدأ من ومضة في مختبر صغير، وتمتد إلى أفق كوني فسيح.
في عام 1895، كان الفيزيائي الألماني فيلهلم رونتغن يراقب شاشة مطلية بالفوسفور حين لاحظ توهّجًا أخضر ناجمًا عن الأشعة المهبطية. سجّل ملاحظته تحت اسم “أشعة إكس”، ومن تلك اللحظة، انطلقت رحلة غيرت وجه الطب والفيزياء، إذ أصبحت هذه الأشعة تُستخدم لتصوير أجساد الجنود في ساحات المعارك، ورؤية الشظايا والكسور في داخلهم.
توالت بعدها الاكتشافات التي أزاحت الغطاء عن طبيعة الذرّة. اكتشف ج. ج. طومسون الإلكترون، وكشف روذرفورد عن وجود نواة صغيرة محاطة بفراغ شاسع داخل الذرّة. ثم جاء أينشتاين ليثبت أن الضوء قادر على تحرير الإلكترونات من أسطح المعادن بناءً على تردده، فغيّر التصور السائد عن طبيعة الضوء والمادة.
أسلوب شيهي بعيد عن الجفاف النظري، تكتب بعين من يروي قصة، وتُدخل القارئ في صلب الأحداث. تظهر التجارب في كتابها كأنها محطات على طريق طويل من الدهشة، تقودها الأسئلة وتدفعها الرغبة الصادقة في الفهم.
عندما احتاج العلماء إلى رؤية الجسيمات، صنعوا غرفًا للسحاب تُظهر أثرها، وحين ضاقت بهم إمكانات الطبيعة، ابتكروا مسرّعات تقلّد الأشعة الكونية. من السيكلوترون إلى السنكروترون، وصولًا إلى مصادم الهادرونات الكبير، ارتفع سقف المعرفة بتوازي مع توسّع الخيال العلمي.
توقفت الكاتبة عند أسماء نسائية أسهمت في تشكيل هذا التاريخ، رغم تهميشها في الروايات الكبرى: هارييت بروكس، ماريتا بلاو، بيبه شودهوري، إليزا مايتنر، وهيلين إدواردز. لكل واحدة منهن حكاية من المثابرة والعلم، سواء في قمة جبل، أو بين أروقة المختبر، أو خلف عدسات التصوير التي التقطت أثر الجسيمات.
مع اقتراب السرد من لحظة هيروشيما، يبرز الوعي الأخلاقي للعلماء. فقد أدركوا أن التقدّم بحاجة إلى مسؤولية، وأن البحث يزدهر حين يقوم على التعاون. يتجسّد هذا التوجه في مصادم الهادرونات الكبير، الذي يشترك فيه علماء من مختلف البلدان سعياً لاكتشاف أسرار الكون بروح جماعية.
تختم شيهي كتابها بثلاث دعائم تصوغ بها رؤيتها للعلم: طرح الأسئلة بذكاء، تغذية روح الفضول، والتمسك بالمثابرة. هذه القيم تمثل جوهر الرحلة العلمية كما تراها: مسار طويل تقوده الرغبة في الفهم والقدرة على الاستمرار.
“جوهر كل شيء” تأمل دافئ في علاقة الإنسان بالعالم الذي يسكنه. يحمل القارئ من شرارة في مختبر إلى سؤال كوني كبير، ويجعله يدرك أن كل تقدم في الفيزياء كان انعكاسًا لحاجة داخلية إلى الفهم.
الكتاب تجربة فكرية وإنسانية، ويصلح أن يكون جسرًا بين من يرى العلم بعيدًا، وبين أولئك الذين جعلوا منه وسيلة لمعرفة الذات والوجود.
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