This book is intended for undergraduates or others coming to the subject of particle physics for the first time. For this reason the only prior knowledge assumed is of the elements of quantum theory and statistical mechanics.

The story of the development of particle physics in the years since the Second World War has been one of almost continuous excitement. Much of this has been due to an unceasing interplay of experiment and theory in the best classical tradition. Few years have passed without a remarkable advance in theory or experiment, such as the discovery of the antiproton; of the strange particles; the Gell-Mann–Nishijima scheme; parity non-conservation; the difference between electron and muon neutrinos; the strongly-decaying resonances; the SU(3) symmetry scheme and the omega particle; evidence for quarks and for gluons; neutral currents; charm and beauty; electromagnetic-weak unification; the discovery of the W and Z bosons and a good many others.

This rapid progress has been a consequence of, and a justification for, parallel progress in technology and instrumentation. In the first chapter of the book I have outlined the principal techniques used in this work. I hope that this will enable the student to understand how the many experiments referred to in later parts of the book have actually been carried out, since I believe that such an understanding is essential to a proper appreciation of the subject.