This book provides a general description of the search for and discovery of the Higgs boson (particle) at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. The goal is to provide a relatively brief overview of the issues, instruments and techniques relevant for this search; written by a physicist who was directly involved. The Higgs boson mat be the one particle that was studied the most before its discovery and the story from postulation in 1964 to detection in 2012 is a fascinating one. The story is told here while detailing the fundamentals of particle physics.

The 1989 Cryogenic Engineering Conference, meeting jointly with the International Cryogenic Materials Conference, was held on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles from July 24 to 28. Professor T.H.K. Frederking was the conference chairman. The Conference had previously met at U.C.L.A. in 1962 and 1969. A special symposium, "A Half Century of Superfluid Helium," was a significant part of the program of CEC-89. We were especially fortunate to have Professor Jack Allen of the University of St. Andrews, Scotland present at the Conference; his paper, "Early Superfluidity in Cambridge, 1936 to 1939," was a delightful, often humorous account of the early experimental work with superfluid helium. Professors V.L. Ginzburg and J.L. Olesen could not be present for the Symposium, but provided papers which are published in these proceedings. The late Bill Fairbank, responding graciously to a last-minute invitation from Professor Frederking, presented a wonderful account of superfluid research in the United States in the post-war years.

These proceedings consist of plenary rapporteur talks covering topics of major interest to the high energy physics community and parallel sessions papers which describe recent research results and future plans.

“A detailed and engaging account of the development of the superconducting supercollider, one of the largest scientific undertakings in the United States.” —Journal of American History Starting in the 1950s, US physicists dominated the search for elementary particles; aided by the association of this research with national security, they held this position for decades. In an effort to maintain their hegemony and track down the elusive Higgs boson, they convinced President Reagan and Congress to support construction of the multibillion-dollar Superconducting Super Collider project in Texas—the largest basic-science project ever attempted. But after the Cold War ended and the estimated SSC cost surpassed ten billion dollars, Congress terminated the project in October 1993. Drawing on extensive archival research, contemporaneous press accounts, and over one hundred interviews with scientists, engineers, government officials, and others involved, Tunnel Visions tells the riveting story of the aborted SSC project. The authors examine the complex, interrelated causes for its demise, including problems of large-project management, continuing cost overruns, and lack of foreign contributions. In doing so, they ask whether Big Science has become too large and expensive, including whether academic scientists and their government overseers can effectively manage such an enormous undertaking. “Focusing on the scientific, technical, and political conflicts that led to delays, ever rising costs, and eventually the SSC’s cancelation by Congress, Tunnel Visions is a true techno-thriller.” —Burton Richter, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics “Most good science stories are tales of discovery and success, but failure can be just as riveting. Here two historians and an archivist describe the greatest particle physics experiment that never was.” —Scientific American