"The book is a merciless critique of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and of the theoretical model on which the world's most expensive experiment is based. Unzicker, a German physicist and award-winning science writer, argues that the greatest physicists such as Einstein, Dirac or Schrödinger would have considered the "discovery" of the Higgs particle ridiculous. According to the author, the standard model has grown unbelievably complicated and doesn't solve any of the great riddles of physics. Moreover, with their increasingly intricate techniques, particle physicists are fooling themselves with alleged results, while their convictions are based on group-think and parroting. Altogether, the data analysis cannot be overseen by anybody"--

An award-winning scientist argues that theoretical physics has become too abstract and calls for science to return to the experimental method The recently celebrated discovery of the Higgs boson has captivated the public's imagination with the promise that it can explain the origins of everything in the universe. It's no wonder that the media refers to it grandly as the "God particle." Yet behind closed doors, physicists are admitting that there is much more to this story, and even years of gunning the Large Hadron Collider and herculean number crunching may still not lead to a deep understanding of the laws of nature. In this fascinating and eye-opening account, theoretical physicist Alexander Unzicker and science writer Sheilla Jones offer a polemic. They question whether the large-scale, multinational enterprises actually lead us to the promised land of understanding the universe. The two scientists take us on a tour of contemporary physics and show how a series of highly publicized theories met a dead end. Unzicker and Jones systematically unpack the recent hot theories such as "parallel universes," "string theory," and "inflationary cosmology," and provide an accessible explanation of each. The auhors argue that physics has abandoned its evidence-based roots and shifted to untestable mathematical theories, and they issue a clarion call for the science to return to its experimental foundation.

"The Higgs boson ... is the key to understanding why mass exists and how atoms are possible. After billions of dollars and decades of effort by more than six thousand researchers at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland--a doorway is opening into the mind-boggling world of dark matter and beyond. Caltech physicist and acclaimed writer Sean Carroll explains both the importance of the Higgs boson and the ultimately human story behind the greatest scientific achievement of our time"--Publisher

"Unique in its coverage of all aspects of modern particle physics, this textbook provides a clear connection between the theory and recent experimental results, including the discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN. It provides a comprehensive and self-contained description of the Standard Model of particle physics suitable for upper-level undergraduate students and graduate students studying experimental particle physics. Physical theory is introduced in a straightforward manner with full mathematical derivations throughout. Fully-worked examples enable students to link the mathematical theory to results from modern particle physics experiments. End-of-chapter exercises, graded by difficulty, provide students with a deeper understanding of the subject. Online resources available at www.cambridge.org/MPP feature password-protected fully-worked solutions to problems for instructors, numerical solutions and hints to the problems for students and PowerPoint slides and JPEGs of figures from the book"--

A fascinating tour of particle physics from Nobel Prize winner Leon Lederman. At the root of particle physics is an invincible sense of curiosity. Leon Lederman embraces this spirit of inquiry as he moves from the Greeks' earliest scientific observations to Einstein and beyond to chart this unique arm of scientific study. His survey concludes with the Higgs boson, nicknamed the God Particle, which scientists hypothesize will help unlock the last secrets of the subatomic universe, quarks and all--it's the dogged pursuit of this almost mystical entity that inspires Lederman's witty and accessible history.

The Higgs boson is the rock star of fundamental particles, catapulting CERN, the laboratory where it was found, into the global spotlight. But what is it, why does it matter, and what exactly is CERN? In the late 1940s, a handful of visionaries were working to steer Europe towards a more peaceful future through science, and CERN, the European particle physics laboratory, was duly born. James Gillies tells the gripping story of particle physics, from the original atomists of ancient Greece, through the people who made the crucial breakthroughs, to CERN itself, one of the most ambitious scientific undertakings of our time, and its eventual confirmation of the Higgs boson. Weaving together the scientific and political stories of CERN's development, the book reveals how particle physics has evolved from being the realm of solitary genius to a global field of human endeavour, with CERN's Large Hadron Collider as its frontier research tool.

"Chronological explanation of physics from early history through current studies geared to lay readers with limited mathematical training"--