ISBN-13: 9783846597651 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 240 str.
The research field of high energy physics is fascinating and fruitful. It is also slow, delicate and painful. Behind any scientific discovery there is a quite complex clockwork, responsible of its existence. This clockwork system is composed of exceptionally hard working individuals and extremely efficient machines: from theorists to technicians; from high vacuum systems to distributed computing software. This complex system was once put to work and in the span of some decades it shifted completely our vision about the natural world, pointing out amazing facts both from the subatomic world of particles and from the inconceivable dimensions of the universe. Almost literally, this finger points out to the Moon. This book deals with a more modest topic: the evolution of the particle detectors themselves and some changes they undergo during operation. It is like playing with the box, instead of with the toy. Or, to complete the adage: as if the fool were staring at the finger. The author is not completely a fool but simply a curious person who thought that the research of such out-of-beaten-track effects today could, hopefully, be applied to new technology tomorrow.