BOOK REVIEW
The Matter of Everything: How Curiosity, Physics, and Improbable Experiments Changed the World
by Suzie Sheehy 2023
About the Author
DR. SUZIE SHEEHY is a physicist, science communicator and academic who divides her time between research groups at the University of Oxford and University of Melbourne. She is currently focused on developing new particle accelerators for applications in medicine.
About the Book
A Best Book of the Year: New Scientist, The Sunday Times (UK)
“Kicking off with the discovery of X-rays towards the end of the nineteenth century to the massive colliders scientists dream of building today, The Matter of Everything is an impassioned, elegant history of particle physics and its applications. Dr. Sheehy adroitly brings together a glittering cast of characters — from the famous giants of the field to the unjustly overlooked scientists whose shoulders they stood on — to tell the story of the most fundamental of all sciences.”
– Ananyo Bhattacharya, author of The Man From the Future
“The Matter of Everything is a magical tour of the great experiments defining the most incredible century in physics, which saw exploring the cutting edge of science move from tabletop curiosities to literally the world’s largest machines. Sheehy seamlessly weaves the science and history with why this matters to all of us: as she expertly illustrates, our quest to understand the tiniest of particles has had an enormous impact on technology, health and society, reaching far beyond the lab.”
– Andrew Steele, author of Ageless
“This is story-telling at its very best and why I fell in love with physics. Sheehy’s attention to detail shines through every story and yet there’s a lightness of touch in the way she highlights the passion, drive, ingenuity and, ultimately, the sheer triumph of science in unlocking nature’s secrets.”
– Jim Al-Khalili, author of The World According to Physics
Physics has always sought to deepen our understanding of the nature of matter and the world around us. But how do you conduct experiments with the fundamental building blocks of existence? How do you manipulate a particle a trillion times smaller than a grain of sand? How do you cause a proton to sail around a twenty-seven-kilometer-long loop 11,000 times per second? And, crucially, why is all this important?
In The Matter of Everything, accelerator physicist Suzie Sheehy introduces us to the people who, through a combination of genius, persistence and luck, staged the experiments that changed the course of history. From the serendipitous discovery of X-rays in a German laboratory to the scientists trying to prove Einstein wrong (and inadvertently proving him right) to the race to split open the atom, these brilliant experiments led to some of the most significant breakthroughs in science and fundamentally changed our lives. They have helped us detect the flow of lava deep inside volcanoes, develop life-saving medical techniques like diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy, and create radio, TV, microwaves, smartphones—even the World Wide Web itself—among countless other advancements.
Along the way, Sheehy pulls back the curtain to reveal how physics is really done—not only by theorists with equation-filled blackboards but also by experimentalists with hand-blown glass, hot air balloons and cathedral-sized electronics. Celebrating human ingenuity, creativity and above all curiosity, The Matter of Everything is an inspiring story of discovery and a powerful reminder that progress is a function of our desire to know.
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