ABSTRACT
The topics that particle physicists study from one day to the next have changed as the subject has progressed, but behind this progression the final goal has remained the same—to try to understand how the universe came into being. Particle physics tries to answer questions about the origin of the universe by studying the objects that are found in it and the ways in which they interact. The particle physicist assumes that all matter in the universe is fundamentally the same and that it all had a common origin in the big bang that created the universe. The accepted scientific theory is that the universe came into being some fifteen billion years ago in a gigantic explosion. Scientists are engaged in studying a world far more real than the abstract shuffling of money on the financial markets. The works of the truly great scientists are part of the culture and should be treated like any great artistic creation.
