Skip to Main Content (Press Enter)
Present at the Creation by Amir D. Aczel
Add Present at the Creation to bookshelf
Add to Bookshelf

Look Inside

Present at the Creation

Discovering the Higgs Boson

Discovering the Higgs Boson

Discovering the Higgs Boson

By Amir D. Aczel

By Amir D. Aczel

By Amir D. Aczel

By Amir D. Aczel

By Amir D. Aczel
Read by Byron Wagner

By Amir D. Aczel
Read by Byron Wagner

Best Seller
Paperback $20.00

Nov 27, 2012 | ISBN 9780307591821

Ebook $6.99

Oct 05, 2010 | ISBN 9780307591685

Audiobook Download $17.50

Oct 05, 2010 | 503 Minutes

All Formats
+
    Present at the Creation by Amir D. Aczel
    Paperback $20.00
    Nov 27, 2012 | ISBN 9780307591821

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    See All Formats (2) +
    • $20.00

      Nov 27, 2012 | ISBN 9780307591821

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Oct 05, 2010 | ISBN 9780307591685

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Oct 05, 2010 | ISBN 9780307735676

      503 Minutes

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy the Audiobook Download:

    About Present at the Creation

    The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the biggest, and by far the most powerful, machine ever built. A project of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, its audacious purpose is to re-create, in a 16.5-mile-long circular tunnel under the French-Swiss countryside, the immensely hot and dense conditions that existed some 13.7 billion years ago within the first trillionth of a second after the fiery birth of our universe.

    In Present at the Creation, Amir D. Aczel takes us inside the control rooms, as an international team of researchers begins to discover whether a multibillion-euro investment will fulfill its promise: to find empirical confirmation of theories in physics and cosmology. Through the eyes and words of the men and women who conceived and built CERN and the LHC, Aczel enriches all of us with a firm grounding in the scientific concepts necessary to appreciate fully the stunning July 4, 2012 discovery of the Higgs Boson. Newly updated in the wake of the discovery, Present at the Creation tells the story of perhaps the greatest experiment in the history of science.

    About Present at the Creation

    The Large Hadron Collider is the biggest, and by far the most powerful, machine ever built. A project of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, its audacious purpose is to re-create, in a 16.5-mile-long circular tunnel under the French-Swiss countryside, the immensely hot and dense conditions that existed some 13.7 billion years ago within the first trillionth of a second after the fiery birth of our universe. The collider is now crashing protons at record energy levels never created by scientists before, and it will reach even higher levels by 2013. Its superconducting magnets guide two beams of protons in opposite directions around the track. After accelerating the beams to 99.9999991 percent of the speed of light, it collides the protons head-on, annihilating them in a flash of energy sufficient—in accordance with Einstein’s elegant statement of mass-energy equivalence, E=mc2—to coalesce into a shower of particles and phenomena that have not existed since the first moments of creation. Within the LHC’s detectors, scientists hope to see empirical confirmation of key theories in physics and cosmology.

    In telling the story of what is perhaps the most anticipated experiment in the history of science, Amir D. Aczel takes us inside the control rooms at CERN at key moments when an international team of top researchers begins to discover whether this multibillion-euro investment will fulfill its spectacular promise. Through the eyes and words of the men and women who conceived and built CERN and the LHC—and with the same clarity and depth of knowledge he demonstrated in the bestselling Fermat’s Last Theorem—Aczel enriches all of us with a firm grounding in the scientific concepts we will need to appreciate the discoveries that will almost certainly spring forth when the full power of this great machine is finally unleashed.

    Will the Higgs boson make its breathlessly awaited appearance, confirming at last the Standard Model of particles and their interactions that is among the great theoretical achievements of twentieth-century physics? Will the hidden dimensions posited by string theory be revealed? Will we at last identify the nature of the dark matter that makes up more than 90 percent of the cosmos? With Present at the Creation, written by one of today’s finest popular interpreters of basic science, we can all follow the progress of an experiment that promises to greatly satisfy the curiosity of anyone who ever concurred with Einstein when he said, “I want to know God’s thoughts—the rest is details.”

    About Present at the Creation

    The Large Hadron Collider is the biggest, and by far the most powerful, machine ever built. A project of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, its audacious purpose is to re-create, in a 16.5-mile-long circular tunnel under the French-Swiss countryside, the immensely hot and dense conditions that existed some 13.7 billion years ago within the first trillionth of a second after the fiery birth of our universe. The collider is now crashing protons at record energy levels never created by scientists before, and it will reach even higher levels by 2013. Its superconducting magnets guide two beams of protons in opposite directions around the track. After accelerating the beams to 99.9999991 percent of the speed of light, it collides the protons head-on, annihilating them in a flash of energy sufficient—in accordance with Einstein’s elegant statement of mass-energy equivalence, E=mc2—to coalesce into a shower of particles and phenomena that have not existed since the first moments of creation. Within the LHC’s detectors, scientists hope to see empirical confirmation of key theories in physics and cosmology.

    In telling the story of what is perhaps the most anticipated experiment in the history of science, Amir D. Aczel takes us inside the control rooms at CERN at key moments when an international team of top researchers begins to discover whether this multibillion-euro investment will fulfill its spectacular promise. Through the eyes and words of the men and women who conceived and built CERN and the LHC—and with the same clarity and depth of knowledge he demonstrated in the bestselling Fermat’s Last Theorem—Aczel enriches all of us with a firm grounding in the scientific concepts we will need to appreciate the discoveries that will almost certainly spring forth when the full power of this great machine is finally unleashed.

    Will the Higgs boson make its breathlessly awaited appearance, confirming at last the Standard Model of particles and their interactions that is among the great theoretical achievements of twentieth-century physics? Will the hidden dimensions posited by string theory be revealed? Will we at last identify the nature of the dark matter that makes up more than 90 percent of the cosmos? With Present at the Creation, written by one of today’s finest popular interpreters of basic science, we can all follow the progress of an experiment that promises to greatly satisfy the curiosity of anyone who ever concurred with Einstein when he said, “I want to know God’s thoughts—the rest is details.”

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Listen to a sample from Present at the Creation

    Also by Amir D. Aczel

    Descartes's Secret Notebook
    Entanglement
    Riddle of the Compass
    Mystery of the Aleph
    God's Equation
    See all books by Amir D. Aczel

    Also by Amir D. Aczel

    Descartes's Secret Notebook
    Entanglement
    Riddle of the Compass
    Mystery of the Aleph
    God's Equation
    See all books by Amir D. Aczel

    Also by Amir D. Aczel

    Descartes's Secret Notebook
    Entanglement
    Riddle of the Compass
    Mystery of the Aleph
    God's Equation
    See all books by Amir D. Aczel

    About Amir D. Aczel

    Amir D. Aczel is the author of many research articles on mathematics, two textbooks, and nine nonfiction books, including the international bestseller Fermat’s Last Theorem, which was nominated for a Los Angeles Times Book Award. Aczel has appeared on more than 30 television programs,… More about Amir D. Aczel

    About Amir D. Aczel

    Amir D. Aczel is the author of many research articles on mathematics, two textbooks, and nine nonfiction books, including the international bestseller Fermat’s Last Theorem, which was nominated for a Los Angeles Times Book Award. Aczel has appeared on more than 30 television programs,… More about Amir D. Aczel

    About Amir D. Aczel

    Amir D. Aczel is the author of many research articles on mathematics, two textbooks, and nine nonfiction books, including the international bestseller Fermat’s Last Theorem, which was nominated for a Los Angeles Times Book Award. Aczel has appeared on more than 30 television programs,… More about Amir D. Aczel

    Product Details

    Category: Science & Technology

    Paperback | $20.00
    Published by Crown
    Nov 27, 2012 | 304 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780307591821

    Category: Science & Technology

    Ebook | $6.99
    Published by Crown
    Oct 05, 2010 | 288 Pages | ISBN 9780307591685

    Category: Science & Technology | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $17.50
    Published by Random House Audio
    Oct 05, 2010 | 503 Minutes | ISBN 9780307735676

    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

    Praise

    “A fascinating discussion of research at the cutting-edge of physics.”–Arthur I. Miller, author of Deciphering the Cosmic Number

    Looking for More Great Reads?
    21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Raise kids who love to read

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read

    Today's Top Books

    Today's Top Books

    Want to know what people are actually reading right now?

         An online magazine for today’s home cook

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook