Widely regarded as a classic in its field, Constructing Quarks recounts the history of the post-war conceptual development of elementary-particle physics. Inviting a reappraisal of the status of scientific knowledge, Andrew Pickering suggests that scientists are not mere passive observers and reporters of nature. Rather they are social beings as well as active constructors of natural phenomena who engage in both experimental and theoretical practice. "A prodigious piece of scholarship that I can heartily recommend."—Michael Riordan, New Scientist "An admirable history. . . . Detailed and so accurate."—Hugh N. Pendleton, Physics Today

· A Preview of Particle Physics· Symmetries and Quarks· Antiparticles· Electrodynamics of Spinless Particles· The Dirac Equation· Electrodynamics of Spin-1/2 Particles· Loops, Renormalization, Running Coupling Constants, and All That· The Structure of Hadrons· Partons· Quantum Chromodynamics· Annihilation and QCD· Weak Interactions· Electroweak Interactions· Gauge Symmetries· The Weinberg-Salam Model and Beyond

The book explains in a precise and complete manner how elementary particle physics has evolved over the past 50 years. The historical development of the ideas that have shaped our thinking about the ultimate constituents of matter is traced out. The author has been associated with some of the originators of elementary particle theory and has made significant contributions to the field. Here, he gives a first-person description of some of the main developments leading to our present view of the universe.

Do you love quantum physics, cosmology, and the humor behind the popular television show The Big Bang Theory? Have you been on the lookout for a fun, non-technical explanation of the science behind things like time travel, wormholes, antimatter, and dark energy? You’ll find all of that, and more, inside this fact-filled, cartoon-packed book. In Quirky Quarks: A Cartoon Guide to the Fascinating Realm of Physics you’ll get: The latest science behind the mysteries of our universe explained in common everyday language. A major dose of cartoons, comics, and humor. A good grasp on the often-bizarre nature of reality. Start reading and you’ll find that hard science does not have to be hard. Whether you’re a teacher, a physicist, or just a lover of the curious, this is the book that delivers the facts in an engaging and entertaining cartoon world inhabited by two dogs, a cat, and some very quirky quarks which you might know from The Particle Zoo. With cutting edge science articles by physicists Boris Lemmer and Benjamin Bahr, and drawings by cartoonist Rina Piccolo, this may be the most fun science reading you’re likely to find out there.

Our world is nested, both physically and socially, and at each level we find innovations that are necessary for the next. Consider: atoms combine to form molecules, molecules combine to form single-celled organisms; when people come together, they build societies. Physics has gone far in mapping the basic mechanics of the simplest things and the dynamics of the overall nesting, as have biology and the social sciences for their fields. But what can we say about this beautifully complex whole? How does one stage shape another, and what can we learn about human existence through understanding an enlarged field of creation and being? In Quarks to Culture, Tyler Volk answers these questions, revealing how a universal natural rhythm—building from smaller things into larger, more complex things—resulted in a grand sequence of twelve fundamental levels across the realms of physics, biology, and culture. He introduces the key concept of “combogenesis,” the building-up from combination and integration to produce new things with innovative relations. He explores common themes in how physics and chemistry led to biological evolution, and biological evolution to cultural evolution. Volk also provides insights into linkages across the sciences and fields of scholarship, and presents an exciting synthesis of ideas along a sequence of things and relations, from physical to living to cultural. The resulting inclusive natural philosophy brings clarity to our place in the world, offering a roadmap for those who seek to understand big history and wrestle with questions of how we came to be.

A Tour of the Subatomic Zoo is a brief and ambitious expedition into the remarkably simple ingredients of all the wonders of nature. Tour guide, Professor Cindy Schwarz clearly explains the language and substance of elementary particle physics for the 99% of us who are not physicists. With hardly a mathematical formula, views of matter from the atom to the quark are discussed in a form that an interested person with no physics background can easily understand. It is a look not only into some of the most profound insights of our time, but a look at the answers we are still searching for. College and university courses can be developed around this book and it can be used alone or in conjunction with other material. Even college physics majors would enjoy reading this book as an introduction to particle physics. High-school, and even middle-school, teachers could also use this book to introduce this material to their students. It will also be beneficial for high-school teachers who have not been formally exposed to high-energy physics, have forgotten what they once knew, or are no longer up to date with recent developments.