The 'Holy Grail' of physics, is to obtain a “Theory of Everything”, from quarks to cosmology. This book is aimed at introducing the layman to some of the modern scientific ideas of high energy particle physics. It begins by giving a brief historical account and then introduces some of the key concepts that scientists have developed in order to get a unifying understanding of these laws.
Quantum theory is a fascinating but notoriously difficult subject to master. However its impact on the modern world is considerable and it will be of increasing technological importance in the future. Quite simply we live in a quantum world and in this book I have attempted to convey the history and philosophy behind the theory, which has had a turbulent past and was even rejected by Einstein.
This book is the second in a series dealing with Einstein’s theory of relativity, the first of these being “Special Relativity: A concise guide for beginners”. Both these books have been adapted from PowerPoint slides that were used for a short course of lectures on relativity. Addition text has been added so as to clarify and expand upon some of the contents of the original slides.
This book is based upon a PowerPoint presentation that I gave, to convey the remarkable theory of Special Relativity. Most of the explanation is given in terms of diagrams and simple descriptions, without much recourse to mathematics. It also acts as a prequel to my following book which deals with General Relativity. Also, YouTube podcasts available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOMyKNgrtz4