The boson affair
HERMAN WOUK'S 12th novel is a deliciously silly confection that combines astrophysics with back-room Washington politics and a touch of Hollywood. Mr Wouk takes as his starting point the true story of the “superconducting super collider”, a particle accelerator that was built in Waxahachie, Texas, in the 1980s. Its purpose was to confirm the existence of a particle called the Higgs boson, which would have been an important achievement had it happened. But in 1993 Congress decided the costly project was going nowhere and pulled the plug.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “The boson affair”
From the May 8th 2004 edition
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