# Standard Model **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2000, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standard-model/25947 "2000-07-18T04:30:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standard-model/25947/1 "2000-07-18T04:30:45Z")
If (hypothetically speaking) I wanted to teach myself about the Standard Model, what textbook(s) should I use, and what sort of course of study should I plan? I’ve taken QM and have studied a bit of group theory on my own, and plan to study it again more seriously when I have the time. (FWIW, I’m a molecular biologist/X-ray crystallographer.) Basically I’m trying to figure out if I need 1 or 2 math books and 1 more physics book before learning about the SM, or if it will take 20 of each. -Ben ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standard-model/25947/2 "2000-07-18T05:10:42Z")
The standard model is being improved (or at least added to) by Quantum Chromodynamics. Check: Brookhaven National Labs. The RHIC should be working by now. CERN. They are planning the Large Hadron Collider to replace the LE-P collider. The Particle Group at Lawrence Berkeley. You should get at least one book recommendation 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standard-model/25947/3 "2000-07-18T05:14:07Z")
tcburnett, Are you Cecil ? ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standard-model/25947/4 "2000-07-18T05:16:00Z")
I was going to make a little joke by referring you to a ‘supermodel’ website. But who did I find? Britney Spears. That effectively ruined the word ‘supermodel’ for me. ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standard-model/25947/5 "2000-07-18T05:19:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bear\_Nenno \* > \*\*tcburnett, Are you Cecil ? \*\* ROFLMAO! Thanks Bear, but I’m lucky if I’m smart enough to breathe, much less be a …er…THE…font of knowledge. "Wait a sec. I’m having another ‘Senior Moment’. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standard-model/25947/6 "2000-07-18T06:12:38Z")
> [@](#): > > ROFLMAO! Thanks Bear, but I’m lucky if I’m smart enough to breathe, much less be a …er…THE…font of knowledge. HA!! I am not convinced. If you _are_ Cecil’s Clark Kent disquise, that is _exactly_ what I would expect you to say!! Come to think of it, you two are never around at the same time. Hmmmmmmm ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standard-model/25947/7 "2000-07-18T06:28:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bear\_Nenno \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > ROFLMAO! Thanks Bear, but I’m lucky if I’m smart enough to breathe, much less be a …er…THE…font of knowledge. > > HA!! I am not convinced. If you _are_ Cecil’s Clark Kent disquise, that is _exactly_ what I would expect you to say!! Come to think of it, you two are never around at the same time. Hmmmmmmm \*\* I can prove it. If I WERE Cecil, I would have said…THE…font of _ALL HUMAN_ knowledge. I had an uncle named Cecil, but he was hanged in San…I MEAN, he would HANG OUT in San Antonio, not Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2000, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standard-model/25947/8 "2000-07-19T06:15:16Z")
Also, read everything by Richard Feynman. Most of it deals with the Standard Model, and all of it is interesting and a good read. ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2000, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standard-model/25947/9 "2000-07-19T07:15:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*Also, read everything by Richard Feynman. Most of it deals with the Standard Model, and all of it is interesting and a good read. \*\* Yep. Sorry I didn’t mention it. He, Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonago shared the 1965 Nobel prize in physics. Thanks, Chronos.