A Palette of Particles

Jeremy Bernstein

“[Bernstein] pares away most of [the mathematical] complexities, thereby allowing general readers to share in the excitement of epoch-making science without shouldering the burden of rigorous analysis. Not merely lucid, Bernstein’s exposition is refreshingly human, sprinkled with anecdotes revealing the piquant personalities of pioneering scientists including Einstein, Pauli, and Gell-Mann. A must-read for armchair physicists.”—Bryce Christensen, Booklist (starred review)

“Few will resist [Bernstein’s] accounts of the history, flamboyant geniuses (many of whom he knew personally), and basics of protons, neutrons and electrons that make up the familiar world.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Casting subatomic particles across a metaphorical painter’s palette, Bernstein blends science, history, and anecdote (including his own work on staff at Harvard University and Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study) to reveal the lively, often bewildering world of particle physics… Bernstein is an unabashed romantic, fondly recalling the tabletop experiments of the mid-20th century (he’s worked in the field for more than 50 years). Later discoveries, especially the Higgs—coaxed to visibility with powerful accelerators and computer analysis—remain, in the author’s estimation, coldly ‘abstract.’ For Bernstein and for readers, the true wonder lies in how each discovery reveals yet another mystery.”—Publishers Weekly

“This is a superb little book. No one, with the possible exception of Freeman Dyson, writes so gracefully about physics and its recent history, or so effectively inserts himself into the story without self-advertisement.”—Kenneth W. Ford, author of 101 Quantum Questions

Related Links

• In American Scientist, Jeremy Bernstein desribed the intellectual journeys that researchers have taken on their quests to find and understand elementary particles