September 15, 1929 - Birth of Murray Gell-Mann, Nobel Prize who coined the term quark and classified elementary particles

Firma de Murray Gell-Mann

From a very young age, he has been involved in research related to the use of particle accelerators, machines that collide protons and electrons at high speeds to decipher their components.

In 1961, Gell-Mann and Yuval Neieman independently proposed a scheme for sorting into groups of eight and ten the more than 100 elementary particles that mathematical theories or observed particle accelerator experiments predicted would be inside the atomic nucleus. The ‘Eightfold Way’, which Gell-Mann poetically called the eightfold path of Buddhism, is the path that leads to enlightenment.

His theory brought order to the chaos that arose with the discovery of particles and helped describe the interactions between particles but also predicted the existence of others not yet known.

In 1969, he received the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discoveries on elementary particles.

Gell-Mann predicted based on his system the existence of another hypothetical particle composed of protons and neutrons, called a quark. The existence of the particle was verified years later in particle accelerator experiments.

In addition to science, Glenn-Mann was interested in other fields such as literature, natural history, historical linguistics, archaeology, history, and psychology.

If you want to know more about this scientist, click on the following link: Murray Gell-Mann

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