Eight Nobel laureates are among the scientific luminaries gathering in Cleveland this weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the most important theories in science.
The of particle physics was proposed in the late 1960鈥檚.
Co-organizer of the event at , theoretical physicist , says the theory provides "a complete working description of how all the fundamental particles of nature, as far as we can tell, interact with one another."
The , he says, "is one of the crowning achievements of humankind.鈥�
Starkman says the event honors the theoretical physicists who developed the theory, and those who verified it over the years.
鈥淭his is the work of thousands of people. Thousands of physicists doing these experiments over the course of decades, building these accelerators and detectors and analyzing the data."
"It was a monumental task to test the Standard Model and look for the particles it predicted,鈥� says Starkman.
Under the theory, the familiar protons and neutrons are made up of even smaller particles called quarks.
Starkman says the theory predicts a menagerie of 25 particles that explain everything except gravity.
鈥淪ix quarks, six charged and neutral leptons, that鈥檚 twelve; the photon, that鈥檚 thirteen; the eight gluons, that鈥檚 21; the three weak bosons, that鈥檚 24 and then the Higgs boson which is 25.鈥�
The final piece, the was discovered in 2012.
The Standard Model at 50 event includes a by Nobel Laureate .
