The Forces of Nature

by Paul C.W. Davies

This is a new edition of Paul Davies' very highly regarded text on high-energy particle physics aimed at the scientifically educated general reader. Since the appearance of the first edition in 1979 there have been many major developments in the field, and the author has taken this opportunity to bring the text completely up to date. Paul Davies includes details of one of the most significant of these developments, the experimental discovery in 1983 of the W and Z intermediate vector bosons, and discusses the implications for the eventual unification of the four forces of nature. In addition to this, the discovery of the top and bottom quarks, the details and predictions of modern grand unified theories (GUTs), and the application of the results of high-energy physics to studies of the very early universe are all included.

Genres: Physics, Nonfiction

255 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Paul Charles William Davies AM is a British-born physicist, writer and broadcaster, currently a professor at Arizona State University as well as the Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He has held previous academic appointments at the University of Cambridge, University of London, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, University of Adelaide and Macquarie University. His research interests are in the fields of cosmology, quantum field theory, and astrobiology. He has proposed that a one-way trip to Mars could be a viable option.

In 2005, he took up the chair of the SETI: Post-Detection Science and Technology Taskgroup of the International Academy of Astronautics.

Reviews

[skein · Rating 4 out of 5]

it is not Paul Davies' fault that i loathe subatomic particles* and the last thing i want to think about are neutrinos. i'm sure this is all thrilling to someone else but i'm only here so i can move past it and understand astrophysics.

*i'm quite fond of electrons & the uncertainty principle

*

okay it picked up in the second half, with all that stuff about symmetries.

[Vance J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although a little dated with all of the recent advances in physics, I found it fascinating to read about the forecasts of the discovery of gravitational waves, etc. This book would serve as a nice primer to someone just starting out in studying particle physics.

[David Schuster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful summary of everything that was known about particle physics in 1980. You should probably get a more recent edition, though.