The God particle
by Leon M. Lederman, Dick Teresi · first published 1993
22% recommend78% neutral
The quest began in 430 B.C. when a Greek philosopher smelled bread baking and imagined that an invisible particle might be the building block of all matter. He called it the a-tom - "that which cannot be cut"--And its pursuit has become science's longest-running experiment. Now, in a book of dazzling originality, Nobel laureate Leon Lederman tells the story of the 2,500-year search for the answer to an ancient question: what is the world made of? Lederman joined this search in the 1950s, and his many contributions to our understanding of subatomic architecture have ranked him among the foremos
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
There is a great book about the Higgs boson called 'The God Particle'(http://www.amazon.com/God-Particle-Universe-Answer-Question/...) I haven't read the new version, but I thoroughly enjoyed the original book, highly recommended.
on “Proof of extra dimensions possible next year: CERN” ↗…which I think is otherwise very well received. I love Sean Carroll and Brian Greene as popularisers of what can be very inaccessible physics. (Oh, and it was a long time ago, but I loved Lederman's The God particle, much as he regretted his own naming later.)
on “A crash course on our boundlessly bizarre universe” ↗Leon Lederman, who popularized the phrase "God particle" with his book, http://www.amazon.com/The-God-Particle-Universe-Question/dp/... has some serious street cred as a physicist http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/198... and as a…
on “CERN scientists to announce proof of Higgs boson found” ↗Actually it was Leon Lederman who wrote book "The God Particle". Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jun/30/higgs.boson.ce...
on “New particle observed at LHC” ↗Lederman said he gave it the nickname "The God Particle" because the particle is "so central to the state of physics today, so crucial to our understanding of the structure of matter, yet so elusive," but jokingly added that a second reason was because "the…
on “Higgs Boson: Physicists See Best Proof Yet of 'The God Particle'” ↗'' Lederman said he gave the Higgs boson the nickname "The God Particle" because the particle is "so central to the state of physics today, so crucial to our final understanding of the structure of matter, yet so elusive," ''
on “Higgs Boson: Physicists See Best Proof Yet of 'The God Particle'” ↗Leon Lederman did not want to call it 'The God Particle', just the opposite 'Goddamn Particle'. "the publisher wouldn't let us call it the Goddamn Particle, though that might be a more appropriate title, given its villainous nature and the expense it is causing." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_Particle:_If_the_Univer...
on “"Sometimes science must give way to religion"” ↗The author completely lost me at: "The Higgs, of course, has been labelled the ‘god particle’ because it accounts for the existence of mass in the Universe." No, it is called the "God Particle" because Leon Lederman called it the "Goddamned Particle" since he had so much trouble defining what…
on “"Sometimes science must give way to religion"” ↗…projects as Cosmos, Sagan was denied membership in the National Academy of Sciences, something extraordinary given his actual scientific accomplishments. For balance, we can look at Leon Lederman ("The God Particle") and Stephen Hawking (several well-received books) who seem not to have suffered unduly for their popularizations of science. But the risk is real.
on “Should we stop believing Malcolm Gladwell?” ↗