From Quarks to the Cosmos: Tools of Discovery (Scientific American Library Series, Vol. 28) [Paperback]

Leon M. Lederman (Author), David N. Schramm (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0716760126 | ISBN-13: 978-0716760122 | Publication Date: October 1995

Particle physicists explore the microworld of the atom; cosmologists study the universe on a large scale. This study follows the merger of these fields as the authors seek to define the "theory of everything". It describes the development of the current views of the nature of space, time, matter and fundamental forces, and explores what these views reveal about the formation of the universe. The text expands on some of the discoveries of 20th-century science, the explorations of inner space and outer space, and of the promises they hold for decoding beginnings, ends and the ultimate laws of nature.

Product Details

• Paperback: 242 pages
• Publisher: W.H. Freeman & Company (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0716760126
• ISBN-13: 978-0716760122
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 8.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,372,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Leon M. Lederman, Nobel Laureate (Batavia, IL), is Resident Scholar at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, Director Emeritus of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Pritzker Professor of Science at the Illinois Institute of Technology, the author of the highly acclaimed The God Particle, the editor of Portraits of Great American Scientists, and a contributor to Science Literacy for the Twenty-First Century. Dr. Lederman and coauthor Christopher T. Hill are also the coauthors of Symmetry and the Beautiful Universe.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely clear and easy to read, plus beautiful!, January 23, 1999

By 

Mark Meyer (Buffalo, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: From Quarks to the Cosmos: Tools of Discovery (Scientific American Library Series, Vol. 28) (Paperback)

I have read lots of popular science books about particle physics and this is way out in front of the pack! It clarified many things that other authors just assumed the reader could understand. For example, the section on how to build synchrotrons and accelerators and why the devices are shaped the way they are was so clear. Plus the color photographs and drawings make it a lovely book to just browse through. If you love particle physics, or are even just a little intrigued, this book is a must! I intend to reread it sometime.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big subject in a small book, November 26, 2000

By 

Howard Schneider (Thornhill, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Quarks to the Cosmos: Tools of Discovery (Scientific American Library Series, Vol. 28) (Paperback)

As the name of this reference implies, it provides a good review from particle physics to astrophysics, and of significance, relates inner space to outer space. Both theoretical and experimental methods are explored. The classical big-bang theory is clearly discussed, as are its difficulties and the solutions provided by inflation theory.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best of a wonderful series!!!, June 14, 2010

By 

Craig A. Breighner "CraigieBob In Austin" (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: From Quarks to the Cosmos: Tools of Discovery (Scientific American Library Series, Vol. 28) (Paperback)

Over the years our family has purchased between 20 and 30 volumes from the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN series. This volume, the 28th, remains among, or perhaps might be, THE most profound of the series. As another reviewer has already mentioned, the presentation is clear, concise, and beautifully illustrated. It underscores the interplay of technological advancement with theory, while offering one of the most cogent discussions of inflation and the standard model I have seen. Likewise, while many writers have chronicled the contributions of various theoreticians, few have provided as comprehensive an historical overview of the devices and instrumentation by which so much theoretical work has been experimentally substantiated.

I also suspect that, like myself, many laypersons reading better-known treatments of the Big Bang might have overlooked the logical impossibility of chemical elements as we now know them to have existed in the immense-but-grapefruit-sized mass that constituted our universe at or shortly after it's 'inception.' The popular scientific literature is full of discussions of the "fusion furnaces of the stars" and their role in producing heavier elements. But this volume, originally written before the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the abandonment of the Superconducting Super-Collider (SSC), contains the most striking depiction of how atoms and subatomic particles themselves would have to have been formed from still smaller entities. Simultaneously breath-taking and awe-inspiring, in its entirety the book allows the reader to come away with his or her head in the heavens and both feet [still] on the ground. Five stars!!!