The Evidence for the Top Quark
The Evidence for the Top Quark
$57.00
USDOffering an historical and philosophical perspective on an important recent discovery in particle physics, the first evidence for the elementary particle known as the top quark, this study draws on published reports, oral histories, and internal documents. Kent Staley explores in detail the controversies and politics that surrounded the major scientific result. His book defends an objective theory of scientific evidence based on error probabilities.
- Intriguing behind-the-scenes perspective on a major scientific discovery
- Important defense of the objectivity of scientific evidence
- Integration of history and philosophy will make the book appeal equally to both historians and philosophers of science
Reviews & endorsements
"The discussion of the personalities, politics and funding as well as the science should make this book interesting to a diverse group of people including historians, philosophers, physicists, and well-informed nonscientists." R.L. Stearns, emeritus, Vassar College, Choice
"It should become a model of how philosophers do a case study in the history of science...The philosophy, history and sociology are fully integrated. All in all, it's a wonderful book." Craig Callender, University of California, San Diego
Product details
March 2011Paperback
9780521174251
360 pages
229 × 152 × 20 mm
0.54kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1. Origins of the third generation of matter
- 2. Building a detector and a collaboration to run it
- 3. Doing physics: CDF closes in on the top
- 4. Writing up the evidence: The evolution of a result
- 5. Run Ib: 'Observation' of the top quark, and second thoughts and 'evidence'
- 6. A model of the experiment: Error statistical evidence and the top quark
- 7. Bias, uncertainty, and evidence
- Epilogue.
