Chapters 17 and 18 Summary and Analysis

In Chapter 17, the last part of the twentieth century will be known in the world of science as the era where the smallest particles that existed were studied in tandem with the vast universe. Among physicists and astronomers, there was an overlapping of interests. The emerging super-symmetry theories hinted that all four forces might be linked. The development of an axis of historical time into cosmology and particle physics had benefits for both categories of scientist. The fundamental particles provided answers to some mysteries of cosmology and cosmology provided a testing ground for particle physics theories.

There are similarities in the sciences. The accelerators, like the telescope, is a form of time machine. A telescope looks into the past in that the light it captures has traveled for light years from the source. An accelerator creates conditions that existed...