Reflections on Experimental Science World Scientific Series in 20th Century Physics

This text contains a picture of experimental high energy physics based on the research work of Martin Perl, discoverer of the tau lepton and the third generation of elementary particles, and 1982 Wolf Prize winner. Using reprints of his articles with his commentaries, the author presents the various aspects of the research life of an experimenter in science: the pleasures and risks of experimental work, the pain and despair with experiments that are useless or fail, the dreaming about experiments that were not carried out, the constant search for innovation and creativity in the work, and the joy of discovery.

The articles and commentaries range from the early days of bubble chambers and spark chambers in the 1950s, to the author's present research, experiments at an electron-position collider and a search for free quarks. The book should be of interest to the general reader as well as the scientist.