Editors Laurie Brown, Max Dresden, Lillian Hoddeson and Michael Riordan have brought together a distinguished group of elementary particle physicists and historians of science to explore the recent history of particle physics. Based on a conference held at Stanford University, this is the third volume of a series recounting the history of particle physics and offers the most up-to-date account of the rise of the Standard Model, which explains the microstructure of the world in terms of quarks and leptons and their interactions. Major contributors include Steven Weinberg, Murray Gell-Mann, Michael Redhead, Silvan Schweber, Leon Lederman and John Heilbron. The wide-ranging articles explore the detailed scientific experiments, the institutional settings in which they took place, and the ways in which the many details of the puzzle fit together to account for the Standard Model.

‘… a beautifully produced collection of essays by most of the leading scientists involved - including no fewer than eight Nobel laureates - and several eminent historians … both practitioners and knowledgeable bystanders can draw inspiration from these reflections on what may turn out to have been the golden age of particle physics.’

Graham Farmelo Source: New Scientist

‘The volume is informative and useful to historians of physics.’

Helge Kragh Source: Centaurus

‘… this book is … worthwhile , timely and valuable.’

R. Barlow Source: European Journal of Physics