The Particle at the End of the Universe

Resumen del libro

It was the universe's most elusive particle, the linchpin for everything scientists dreamed up to explain how physics works. It had to be found. But projects as big as CERN's Large Hadron Collider don't happen without conniving, incredible risks, and occasional skulduggery. Sean Carroll reveals the insight, rivalry, and wonder that fuelled the Higgs search, and explores why this particle holds the potential to change the world much as the electron ushered in the age of nuclear energy and quantum computing. While the first sighting of the infamously named "God particle" essentially solves the riddle of why matter has mass, it also opens a door into the mind-boggling domain of dark matter and other phenomena we never predicted. Told with unparalleled ambition, authority, and access to the competing research teams, this is the definitive, behind-the-scenes account of the landmark discovery of the Higgs boson.

"A must read for anyone seeking to understand current research on the nature of the universe from atoms to stars."
Arthur I. Miller, author of 137: Jung, Pauli, and the Pursuit of a Scientific Obsession

Biografía del autor

Sean M. Carroll (Filadelfia, 1966) es físico teórico y filósofo especializado en mecánica cuántica, cosmología y filosofía de la ciencia. Se doctoró en 1993 en Astronomía y Astrofísica por la Universidad de Harvard. Actualmente es profesor del Departamento de Física en el Instituto de Tecnología de California (Caltech) y profesor investigador en la Universidad Johns Hopkins y el Instituto Santa Fe, el centro de investigación más importante del mundo en ciencia de sistemas complejos. Entre sus libros destacan los best sellers The Big Picture, The Particle at the End of the Universe y From Eternity to Here. Ha recibido premios y becas de la National Science Foundation, la NASA, el American Institute of Physics, la Royal Society of London, la Guggenheim Foundation y muchos otros. Presenta el podcast semanal Mindscape, centrado en ciencia, sociedad, filosofía, cultura y arte.