Description
Book SynopsisAn insider's history of the world's largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider: why it was built, how it works, and the importance of what it has revealed. Since 2008 scientists have conducted experiments in a hyperenergized, 17-mile supercollider beneath the border of France and Switzerland. The Large Hadron Collider (or what scientists call the LHC) is one of the wonders of the modern worlda highly sophisticated scientific instrument designed to re-create in miniature the conditions of the universe as they existed in the microseconds following the big bang. Among many notable LHC discoveries, one led to the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics for revealing evidence of the existence of the Higgs boson, the so-called God particle. Picking up where he left off in The Quantum Frontier, physicist Don Lincoln shares an insider's account of the LHC's operational history and gives readers everything they need to become well informed on this marvel of technology. Writing about the LHC'
Trade ReviewThe book is a fast read brimming with personality. Reading about the Large Hadron Collider, with its spinning particle streams, hypercontrolled collisions, and awesome implications, is like learning about what wizards do.
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Foreword ReviewsLincoln's tales of the LHC . . . offer readers fresh insight into some of the most significant research in modern physics.
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Publishers WeeklyLaypersons interested in the building blocks of the universe and/or the newsworthy LHC will learn a lot from this work and enjoy the process.
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Library JournalPhysics blends with some amazing stories of the Higgs boson and other details in a powerful scientific survey packed with insights that are both scientifically detailed and widely accessible to general-interest readers.
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California BookwatchThis engaging story will be appreciated by readers interested in the frontiers of science . . . Highly recommended.
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ChoiceWritten in accessible language and an engaging manner . . . I was pleased to see how Lincoln's sense of humor. . . lightens what might otherwise be a tedious enumeration of technical details.
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MetascienceTable of ContentsPreface
Acknowledgments
1. Beginnings and Building Blocks
2. Stuff We Already Know
3. Accelerators and the LHC
4. Incredible Detectors
5. Teething Pains and Triumphs
6. The Dramatic Higgs Saga
7. Looking for Something New
8. The Future Is Bright!
Suggested Reading
Index
