Siegmund BrandtProfessor Emeritus Physics DepartmentUniversity of SiegenGermanyBorn 1936 in Berlin. Diploma 1959 and Ph.D. 1963 under Wolfgang Paul at Bonn University.Staff member at CERN 1962-65. Privatdozent at Heidelberg University 1966-72. Professor of Physics at Siegen University since 1972 , member of the Foundation Senate 1972-80, Professor Emeritus since 2001. Participation in particle-physics experiments at the accelerator centres CERN and DESY, starting 1961.Co-author and author of textbooks on different field of physics and on data analysis,which appeared in ten languages.Chairman, Particle Physics Section, German Physical Society 1986-89.Chairman, Scientific Council, DESY 1990--93.Member, Scientific-Technical Council, Research Centre Julich 1982--2002.

The reader is taken through many fundamental discoveries, which are always described in a very appealing style. The book is profusely illustrated with photographs of the main players and respective apparatus, often complemented by pedagogical diagrams, and includes detailed references to original publications. It provides a stimulating way of learning about the basic concepts of modern physics and how they were brought to life. Once you start reading this book, it is difficult to stop.

• 1. Rontgen's X Rays (1895) ; 2. Becquerel Discovers Radioactivity (1896) ; 3. Zeeman and Lorentz - A First Glimpse at the Electron (1896) ; 4. The Discovery of the Electron (1897) ; 5. Marie and Pierre Curie - Polonium and Radium (1898) ; 6. Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Rays (1899) ; 7. Max Planck and the Quantum of Action (1900) ; 8. Rutherford Finds the Law of Radioactive Decay (1900) ; 9. The Transmutation of Elements (1902) ; 10. Einstein's Light-Quantum Hypothesis (1905) ; 11. Einstein Creates the Special Theory of Relativity (1905) ; 12. Nernst and the Third Theorem of Thermodynamics (1905) ; 13. Observing a Single Particle - The Rutherford-Geiger Counter and Later Electronic Detectors (1908) ; 14. Jean Perrin and Molecular Reality (1909) ; 15. Millikan's Oil-Drop Experiment (1910) ; 16. The Atomic Nucleus (1911) ; 17. Tracks of Single Particles inWilson's Cloud Chamber (1911) ; 18. Kamerlingh Onnes, Liquid Helium and Superconductivity (1911) ; 19. Hess Finds Cosmic Radiation (1912) ; 20. Max von Laue - X Rays and Crystals (1912) ; 21. Bragg Scattering (1912) ; 22. J. J. Thomson Identifies Isotopes (1912) ; 23. Bohr's Model of the Atom (1913) ; 24. Moseley and the Periodic Table of Elements (1913) ; 25. The Franck-Hertz Experiment (1914) ; 26. Einstein Completes the General Theory of Relativity (1915) ; 27. Sommerfeld - Spatial Quantisation and Fine Structure (1916) ; 28. Nitrogen is Turned into Oxygen (1919) ; 29. Astronomers Verify General Relativity (1919) ; 30. Stern and Gerlach Observe Spatial Quantisation (1922) ; 31. The Compton Effect - The Light Quantum Gains Momentum (1923) ; 32. MatterWaves Proposed by de Broglie (1923) ; 33. Bose and Einstein- A New Way of Counting (1924) ; 34. Bothe and Geiger - Coincidence Experiments (1925) ; 35. Pauli's Exclusion Principle (1925) ; 36. Spin (1925) ; 37. Heisenberg and the Creation of Quantum Mechanics (1925) ; 38. Dirac's Mechanics of q Numbers (1925) ; 39. Schrodinger Creates Wave Mechanics (1926) ; 40. Born's Probability Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (1926) ; 41. Fermi-Dirac Statistics-Yet Another Way of Counting (1926) ; 42. Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and Bohr's Complementarity (1927) ; 43. Quantum Mechanics and Relativity - The Dirac Equation (1928) ; 44. Band Model of Conductors and Semiconductors (1928-31) ; 45. Hubble Finds that the Universe is Expanding (1929) ; 46. Pauli Presents His Neutrino Hypothesis (1930) ; 47. Lawrence and the Cyclotron (1931) ; 48. Chadwick Discovers the Neutron (1932) ; 49. Anderson Discovers the Positron (1932) ; 50. Nuclear Reaction Brought About by Machine (1932) ; 51. Heisenberg on Nuclear Forces: Isospin (1932) ; 52. The Proton Displays an "Anomalous" Magnetic Moment (1933) ; 53. Fermi's Theory of Beta Rays (1933) ; 54. Irene and Frederic Joliot-Curie - Artificial Radioactivity (1934) ; 55. Fermi Produces Radioactivity with Neutrons (1934) ; 56. Cherenkov Radiation Discovered (1934) and Explained (1937) ; 57. Prediction of the Meson (1934) - Discovery of the Muon (1937) ; 58. A New Kind of Liquid: Superfluid Helium (1937) ; 59. Why the Stars Shine (1938) ; 60. Nuclear Fission (1938) ; 61. Two Transuranium Elements Finally Found - Neptunium and Plutonium (1940/1941) ; 62. Landau Explains Superfluidity (1941) ; 63. Fermi Builds a Nuclear Reactor (1942) ; 64. The Synchrotron: Phase Stability (1945) and Strong Focussing (1952) ; 65. Magnetic Resonance (1945) ; 66. The Pi Meson Discovered by the Photographic Method (1947) ; 67. The Lamb Shift (1947) ; 68. Strange Particles (1947) ; 69. The Transistor (1947) ; 70. The Shell Model - A Periodic Table for Nuclei (1949) ; 71. Quantum Electrodynamics and Feynman Diagrams (1949) ; 72. Glaser's Bubble Chamber (1953) ; 73. The Maser (1954) ; 74. Strangeness - A New Quantum Number (1955) ; 75. Antimatter (1955) ; 76. The Neutrino Finally Observed (1956) ; 77. Parity - A Symmetry Broken (1957) ; 78. Superconductivity Explained by Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer (1957) ; 79. Weak Interaction Better Understood - The V ? A Theory (1957) ; 80. Keeping Ions in a Trap (1958) ; 81. The Mossbauer Effect (1958) ; 82. The Laser (1960) ; 83. Particle-Antiparticle Colliders (1961) ; 84. Nonlinear Optics (1961) ; 85. There Is More than One Kind of Neutrino (1962) ; 86. Semiconductor Heterostructures - Efficient Laser Diode Proposed (1963) and Built (1970) ; 87. Three Quarks - Order in the Wealth of New Particles (1964) ; 88. CP - Another Symmetry Broken. The Peculiar System of the Neutral K Meson and Its Antiparticle (1964) ; 89. Blackbody Radiation from the Early Universe (1965) ; 90. Two Forces of Nature are Only One - Electroweak Interaction (1967) ; 91. Weak Neutral Currents - A Glimmer of Heavy Light (1973) ; 92. Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) - The New Theory of Strong Interaction (1973) ; 93. A Fourth Quark -Charm (1974) ; 94. The Discovery of the Gluon (1979) ; 95. The Quantum Hall Effect (1980) ; 96. W and Z Boson Discovered (1983) ; 97. Cooling and Trapping Neutral Atoms (1985) ; 98. There Are Just Three Generations (1989) ; 99. Bose-Einstein Condensation of Atoms (1995) ; 100. Neutrinos Have Mass (1998, 2001)