How we explore unanswered questions in physics

Lisa Randall developed some of the key ideas about how gravity could live in extra dimensions, and this book is a gripping and accessible account of branes, spacetime, Kaluza-Klein theory and general relativity from the world’s expert. This book has inspired more than a few skeptical little kids to become physicists.

If you’re not satisfied with the possibility of only one or two extra dimensions of space, perhaps you’d prefer the ten (or twenty-five?) of string theory. Brian Greene’s electrifying account of the journey physicists took from thinking about elementary point particles to considering that there may be another level of substructure below that — that all particles are vibrating loops of string — remains one of the best explorations of the biggest open questions of physics and our inventive attempts to answer them. I wouldn’t have gone into physics if it weren’t for this book.

You can also watch Brian's talks here and here

The Standard Model of particle physics is one of the greatest intellectual achievements of humankind, and there are lots of great books that describe it in a non-technical and qualitative way. But to really understand and appreciate it, you need to dive into the mathematics behind it, that of gauge groups and quantum field theory. This can be intimidating to many non-specialists. That’s why Bruce Schumm’s book is so good, since it presents the math of the Standard Model without the math, describing the concepts behind the mathematical structures — and how they map into the physical world — without overwhelming the reader with equations. An unparalleled book for getting a deeper sense of what particle physics is all about without getting a PhD (although I also suggest you get that PhD).

Essential viewing for anyone who wants to understand why physicists do what we do: because we’re insatiably curious. Feynman was a couple of orders of magnitude smarter than most physicists (including me), but here he tells stories, gives his views, and ends up displaying the attributes so many of us share: a love of problem-solving, a dedication to empiricism, a healthy and deep-seated distrust of asserted authority, and the recognition that science is simply the best set of methods and tools that we have for determining truth from falsehood — and that physics, in its purest form, is inherently fun.

My close colleague — and recipient of the 2015 New Horizons in Physics Prize, part of the Breakthrough Prizes — Natalia Toro is one of the deepest thinkers in physics right now. This talk is actually for graduate students in theoretical physics, but it’s a masterpiece of how contemporary particle physicists think about the world and, even more fundamentally, how we organize our thinking to push the boundaries of what we know and find where our current understanding breaks down — which often opens up opportunities to make progress.

Founded by my colleagues Tova Holmes, Laura Jeanty and Larry Lee, In Particular is a wonderful, personable look at the people we work with at CERN every day featuring fantastic first-person accounts of the research we do.