This may be the time when physics needs a Kuhnian revolution, the sort of think that Copernicus brought to astronomy and Darwin to biology. It's over a half-century since Thomas Kuhn's "Structure of Scientific Revolutions" appeared. In it he points to a five-step process: (1) existing models conflict with facts; (2) theories are adjusted to account for anomalies (increasing complexity); (3) a new theory discards the prior framework; (4) the new theory is attacked by experts as being incompatible with the model; and (5) younger scientists accept the new theory, which becomes the consensus.
We are now near (3) and (4) where particle physics is concerned. Super-symmetry, strings, dark matter, dark energy, colors, charms, etc. are the epicycles of today.
John Moffat is our Virgil, leading us through the labyrinth of the particles and the (expensive) construct of CERN and the search for the Higgs boson. We still don't know whether the hints of two years ago were statistical anomalies or valid sightings. The feeling I have is that Peter Higgs et al. received the Nobel Prize because the vast expenditure of funds and time was otherwise unjustifiable. But in the current theory, we've done away with William of Ockham.
Perhaps.
But Moffat has given us a lucid description of theory and experimental findings. He has delivered an enjoyable "read." He has long been a "bad boy": suggesting a variable speed of light and an alternative to gravity (no, this doesn't mean that apples fall up).
I have the feeling that the snark is a boojum.
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