In this important book, the major developments in atomic, nuclear, particle and quark physics over the past one hundred years are presented in a style that is both accessible to the layperson and of value to the expert. It provides a brief history of particles, charting the discovery of electrons and photons, antimatter, atomic nuclei, strong and weak forces, and quarks and gluons. In particular, it traces the concept of “conserved charges”, a phenomenon that is consistently manifested in each of these milestone developments in modern physics.

Contents: Prologue: A Century of Particle Charges; (1) The Electron: The Quantum of Electricity; (2) Mass: E = mc2 and All That; (3) The Photon: No Charge, No Mass; (4) The Spin: If It's Round, It Rolls; (5) Antimatter: A Mirror Image; (6) The Nucleus: A Whole New Ball Game; (7) The Strong Force I: Nucleons; (8) The Weak Force: A Whisper in the Night; (9) The Strong Force II: Hadrons; (10) The Quark: The Queen of Fractions; (11) The Origin of Quarks and Gluons; Epilogue: More Quarks, More Leptons and More Charges; Appendices: Annotated Chronology; Powers of Ten; Nobel Prizes in Physics.

Readership: All levels from high school onwards.  less