Fermilab : physics, the frontier, and megascience /

Three well-known science historians, Hoddeson (Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Kolb (Fermilab archivist), and Westfall (Michigan State Univ.) have written this comprehensive history of Fermilab, the government-supported particle physics laboratory located in Weston, Illinois. Starting with its founding in 1967, the authors follow Fermilab's development over four decades to become this country's premier accelerator lab. While contrasting the interesting styles of the lab's first three directors, the authors follow the political, sociological, and financial problems faced in the construction of the original 400 BeV fixed-target machine and its evolution over the years into a colliding beam facility in which fundamental particles moving in opposite directions are made to collide. This world-class facility, operating at 1000 BeV (1 TeV)--hence the name Tevatron for the accelerator--provides experimental facilities for more than 2,000 visiting scientists each year. A full chapter gives an interesting account of the sad struggle to build what became known as the Superconducting Super Collider, for which construction was actually started in Texas but cancelled by Congress in 1993. This book is a useful addition to any college library and would be appropriate for anyone interested in the evolution and operation of particle physics laboratories. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. R. L. Stearns emeritus, Vassar College