Interactions: A Journey Through the Mind of a Particle Physicist & the Matter of This World

by Ben Bova

The average reader is introduced to the incredible world of subatomic physics: a world of gamma rays, neutrinos, positrons and Z-bosons.

Genres: Physics, Science, Biography

368 pages, paper

First published April 1, 1988

About the author

Ben Bova was born on November 8, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1953, while attending Temple University, he married Rosa Cucinotta, they had a son and a daughter. He would later divorce Rosa in 1974. In that same year he married Barbara Berson Rose.

Bova was an avid fencer and organized Avco Everett's fencing club. He was an environmentalist, but rejected Luddism.

Bova was a technical writer for Project Vanguard and later for Avco Everett in the 1960s when they did research in lasers and fluid dynamics. It was there that he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz later of the Foresight Institute.

In 1971 he became editor of Analog Science Fiction after John W. Campbell's death. After leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni during 1978-1982.

In 1974 he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the children's science fiction television series Land of the Lost entitled "The Search".

Bova was the science advisor for the failed television series The Starlost, leaving in disgust after the airing of the first episode. His novel The Starcrossed was loosely based on his experiences and featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison. He dedicated the novel to "Cordwainer Bird", the pen name Harlan Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project.

Bova was the President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past President of Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

Bova went back to school in the 1980s, earning an M.A. in communications in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1996.

Bova has drawn on these meetings and experiences to create fact and fiction writings rich with references to spaceflight, lasers, artificial hearts, nanotechnology, environmentalism, fencing and martial arts, photography and artists.

Bova was the author of over a hundred and fifteen books, non-fiction as well as science fiction. In 2000, he was the Author Guest of Honor at the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon 2000).

Hollywood has started to take an interest in Bova's works once again, in addition to his wealth of knowledge about science and what the future may look like. In 2007, he was hired as a consultant by both Stuber/Parent Productions to provide insight into what the world is to look like in the near future for their upcoming film "Repossession Mambo" (released as "Repo Men") starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and by Silver Pictures in which he provided consulting services on the feature adaptation of Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon".

http://us.macmillan.com/author/benbova

Reviews

[Paige McLoughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sheldon Glashow winner of the Nobel prize in 1979 with Steven Weinberg, and Abdus Salaam for there work in putting together the standard model of particle physics which a few years ago was further confirmed by the discover of the Higgs Boson at CERN tells the story of how this theory of 3 of the 4 forces electromagnetism, the strong force, the weak force but not gravity came together. He explains the particle physics picture up through the 1980s. I have seen most of this stuff before but it is nice to hear from someone present at creation.
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following reviews


READING PROGRESS
December 10, 2020 – Started Reading
December 10, 2020 – Shelved
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December 10, 2020 – page 344
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December 10, 2020 – Shelved as: american-history
December 10, 2020 – Shelved as: physics
December 10, 2020 – Finished Reading

[Paige McLoughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sheldon Glashow winner of the Nobel prize in 1979 with Steven Weinberg, and Abdus Salaam for there work in putting together the standard model of particle physics which a few years ago was further confirmed by the discover of the Higgs Boson at CERN tells the story of how this theory of 3 of the 4 forces electromagnetism, the strong force, the weak force but not gravity came together. He explains the particle physics picture up through the 1980s. I have seen most of this stuff before but it is nice to hear from someone present at creation.

[Michael Plesser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for the undergraduate with aspirations of physics theory! A unique perspective on the historical development of particle physics given by one of the key players, with a charming but honest narrative and a wealth of anecdotes for the collector of miscellania obscura.

[Remo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maravilloso viaje por el mundo subatómico de uno de los ganadores del Nobel por el descubrimiento de la unificación electrodébil. SG es ameno y didáctico; no es el mejor divulgador, pero sí muy eficaz cuando el tema del que habla es tan interesante. Recomendable.

[Larry Gerovac · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the mind of a particle physicist. See how energy and particles interact while learning some history.

[Edd Marbello-Santrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cuando lees el libro que justamente resume todo lo que te apasiona. Lo fundamental de la naturaleza, y cómo esta se comporta. Parece que todo tiende a ser elemental. El reto es llegar a lo esencial.

[agremon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recomendable para quien le guste la física.Una biografía más o menos de la vida profesional de Glashow. Es conveniente tener una base de conocimientos míima.