For thousands of years, people have wondered what the Universe is made of and if there is a “smallest thing” from which everything else is made. They have also asked, if there is a smallest thing, what is it made of? Knowing this might lead to the ability to do things heretofore impossible, magical, and fantastic. Today, we call this area of science “Particle Physics.”
This course is an introduction to particle physics, beginning with the ideas of the Greek philosophers, the wizardry of alchemists, and the 17th and 18th century discoveries about the nature of matter, eventually leading to two great unifying triumphs – Mendeleev’s development of the Periodic Table and Dalton’s revival of atomic theory. However, in the 19th century J.J. Thomson’s unexpected discovery of something much smaller than the smallest atom heralded a whole new world of physics exploration that continues today.


LLI Coordinator: Jo Anne Renton