Most Wanted Particle: The Inside Story of the Hunt for the Higgs, the Heart of the Future of Physics Paperback – March 8, 2016

If you are looking for a good primer on Particle Physics, this is probably not the right book. For that I'd recommend something like "Quarks and Gluons: A Century of Particle Charges" by M. Y. Han. It's a short and simple introduction to Particle Physics basics. This book does offer plenty such information along the way, but its greater offerings are the experiences of a Particle Physicist who took part in some of the greatest milestones in the field, all chronicled delightfully by a very humble author whose lofty participation is recounted quite affably - from the disappointing setbacks of software and hardware problems, through the dicey navigation of political funding and public perception, to the exciting confirmations of data bumps at specific energy levels indicating discovery. I do envy this man's experiences; not only for his role in what might turn out to be the most important discovery in Physics, but for his front-row seat to the life-altering technological changes over the past few decades that played an integral part in - and in some cases emerged from - the efforts of CERN as it grew from a noble endeavor of international cooperation to the massive vanguard of humanity's cutting-edge frontier in our understanding of nature we regard it as today. This man was one of the pioneering global villagers before we even had a term for that; and a better man to relay such a life to the public I cannot think of. If I had to describe the book in a phrase, I'd say Bill Bryson-cum-Particle Physicist.

While the jargon of theoretical physics was a challenge, the author make is very approachable. It looks at all the issues, politics and ultimate success of the LHC at CERN. It’s a glimpse at something extraordinary and shows the sheer amount of people working to try to push the limits of understanding.

My email to Dr. Butterworth: Thank you for your book, MOST WANTED PARTICLE. - a fascinating experience. You have provided those of us, requiring a year of college physics to advance in the medical/dental profession, with a fun-filled update of that which we have lost from one who delights us with the experience of knowing more.If I am to remain chairman of the Dunning-Kruger committee, in the United States, it is necessary for you to write another book so as to fill in the spaces since the last one. "The new bizarre state of matter, called a Kitaev quantum spin liquid is apparently producing quasiparticles that seem to 'split' electrons." - [...] Enough of this business of "seem" and "bizarre" titillating curious novices about particles thought to be fundamental. How much of a disturbance in your presentations will it have if experimental physicists back up the findings? Even now, I would assume you are having fun with this. Over another beer, of course, at a late-night pub meeting. Sure wish I could join you. I'd buy.Again, thank you for a very fun and informative read with MOST WANTED PARTICLE. --- SMASHING!

This is an okay book if you really want to know about the day to day stuff that constitutes a scientists life, but much of the text is not actually all that relevant to the Higgs boson discovery or even the LHC. You do, however, get a good deal of background on the life of a scientist working on the project, which is probably not what you bought this book for. You'll get lots of stories about how the analytical codes were developed or how press events took place or how "pure" science of this type is often unfairly criticized by politicians, the media and public alike. There is a lot of anecdotal text which would be good if those anecdotes were interesting or amusing (case in point the detailed discussion of attending a conference as presented in 3.4). Mostly they are just discussions of routine day-to-day occurrences. If you want a book that stays more on the path of what the LHC does and the significance of the Higgs then there are much better books out there.

Mr. Butterworth gives an engaging account of the development of the LHC particle accelerator and captures the complex and huge nature of the undertaking. His descriptions of some of the theory behind the discoveries at CERN and other labs is very approachable if you have a semester of college physics. This is global science at it's best and is similar to what I see in my work as a medical device R&D engineer - research is now a global process with the advent of collaboration using the Internet and inexpensive phone communication. And the development of very high power particle microscopes like the LHC led to the World Wide Web being invented at CERN and commercialized with the aid of Al Gore. Every dollar we spend on such fundamental research as at Fermi Lab, which is working on neutrino research now, and at CERN are amplified many times over in our economic activities and in the lives of people worldwide.

This is a very enjoyable book that describes how the existence of a fundamental subatomic particle predicted decades ago was verified experimentally in 2012. The author does a great job of describing how mountains of data were analyzed statistically, and the reader need not be a physicist or mathematician to follow his train of thought. The book gives the reader a very insightful look into how physics research is actually done in the real world, i.e., by teams of people collaborating, and very effectively celebrates this methodology.

I have no physics background, unless you count watching "The Big Bang Theory" regularly, but I found this book to be written in a manner that I could grasp the essentials even though I might not understand everything that is discussed. There is enough human interest information about the individuals involved in the scientific search for the Higgs boson to keep the reader interested and involved in the drama of the event.

The Higgs boson is the particle that defines of matter and things began and existed, It's discovery permits a theory for the origin of life and other modern phenomena.

The book requires a background in physics-not for a beginner

Great book about Higgs particle!

Same content - different titles - do not be confused.

„Most Wanted Particle“ ist die US amerikanische Ausgabe von Jon Butterworths „Smashing Physics“, mit einem Vorwort von Lisa Randall, deren „Higgs Discovery“ bereits 2012 den Nachweises der Existenz des Higgs am CERN würdigte. Die Verleihung des Physik Nobelpreises an Peter Higgs und François Englert im folgenden Jahr, zogen nicht nur das Interesse der Medien und der Öffentlichkeit auf sich, sondern lösten auch eine Flut von populär wissenschaftlichen Schriften zu diesem Thema aus.Das vorliegende Werk ist insofern einzigartig, da der Autor unmittelbar an ATLAS mitgewirkt hat, einem der beiden LHC Experimente, denen der Higgs Nachweis zu verdanken ist. Er arbeite bis 2004 am HERA Beschleuniger des DESY in Hamburg, entwickelte Software Programme zur Simulation von Hadronen Interaktionen, er ist Professor am University College London, und war seit 2010 Leiter einer ATLAS Arbeitsgruppe am CERN.Der Untertitel des Buches „ The Inside Story of the Hunt for the Higgs, the Heart of the Future of Physics“ beschreibt das Anliegendes Buches vielleicht ganz treffend: den 'Schlussstein' des Standard Modells der Teilchenphysik experimentell dingfest zu machen; diese Suche schildert der Autor aus seinem persönlichen Erleben – im wesentlichen den historischen Ereignisse folgend, Nach dem Aus des amerikanischen SSC, ruhten die Hoffnungen der Experimentalphysiker auf dem Bau des des Large Hardron Colliders (LHC), der ab 2000 im 27km langen LEP Tunnel bei Genf gebaut wurde, und der die notwendigen hohen Energien erreichen sollte, um Experimente zum Nachweis des Hiiggs Teilchens durchführen zu können. Wie der Autor in Detail beschreibt, ist der dabei notwendig technische Aufwand enorm, allein die zahlreichen supraleitenden Magnete, die mit ihrem Feld, die auf nahezu Lichtgeschwindigkeit beschleunigten Teilchen, auf ihre kreisförmige Umlaufbahn zwingen, mussten extra für diesen Zweck entwickelt und gebaut werden. Ebenso die Nachweisinstrumente, d.h. die Detektoren, sind riesige, komplexe Industrieanlagen, vollgepackt mit Elektronik; allein ALTAS, dem Experiment, an dem der Autor direkt beteiligt war, hat eine Länge von 46 m und einen Durchmesser von 25 m, d.h. es hat die Dimensionen eines Wohnhauses. Die Datenmenge, die diese Teilchendetektoren liefern ist so riesig, dass elektronische Trigger im Detektor selbst ein Vorauswahl der 'interessanten' Ereignisse treffen müssen, bevor die angeschlossen Computer die übrigbleibende Datenflut bewältigen können. Zur nachfolgende Datenrekonstruktion und Analyse verfügt das CERN über ein weltweit verteiltes Computer Grid.Wann immer es zu den Schilderungen der Ereignisse passt, erläutert der Autor auch die physikalisch theoretischen Zusammenhänge, in einer Reihe von 'Glossaren' werden Hintergrund Informationen bereitgestellt, z.B. zum Standard Modell, dem Unterschied zwischen Fermion und Boson, oder zu Eichfeld Theorien. Das lässt das Buch als Lektüre-Einstieg in diese Materie eher ungeeignet erscheinen, Physik Enthusiasten werden sich aber an den Schilderungen 'aus erster Hand' freuen, die nicht bis zum Anbeginn der Physik (Galilei, Kepler, Newton, pa, pa, papp....) ausholen, um dann auf ihr eigentliches Anliegen im letzten Kapitel zurück zu kommen. Die Erzählungen werden durch etliche Anekdoten aufgelockert, so etwa einem BBC Interview, unmittelbar nach der „Higgs- Entdeckung“, das nach 20 Minuten Sachinforationen sich in die Diskussion von „religiösen Hintergründen“ verlor.Das Buch erinnert in gewisser Weise an Leon Lederman's 'God Particle', das auch in einer Fußnote Erwähnung findet, wiewohl sich der Autor gegen die Bezeichnung 'God Particel' verwehrt, er argumentiert, dass auch Higgs Boson unpassend ist, da der Symmetrie brechende Mechanismus mittels Skalarfeld eher eine Entdeckung ist, dessen Ehre der 'Gang Of Six' (Brout, Higgs, Englert, Hagen, Guralnik, Kibble) gebührt, aber 'Gang Of Six' – Boson dürfte dann doch zu umständlich sein. (NB: Lederman's ironischer Unterton bei der Wahl seines Buchtitels mag nicht allen behagen, und dürfte bei all der Medien Resonanz völlig untergegangenen sein.)Note: vom Vorwort abgesehen, sind „Most Wanted Particle“ und „Smashing Physics“ inhaltlich völlig identisch.