The particles are manufactured in a "sweatshop of one" in Los Angeles, California (there is actually very little sweating as we do have air conditioning). Particle Zookeeper Julie Peasley is the sole seamstress, web designer and conceptualizer. A bevy of four-footed, furry "assistants" help to keep the sewing corner in disorder.

People, Know What You're Made Of
I hope The Particle Zoo can raise awareness and popular interest in the fascinating field of particle physics. And with the startup of the Large Hadron Collider, the field is only going to get more and more exciting. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty curious whether there are other dimensions or how the particles get their mass. We are priveleged to live in a time where we might just find out.

Physicist Derek van Westrum, PhD is our science consultant. Derek specializes in gravity and earned his thesis in nuclear physics at Thomas Jefferson National lab. Derek also built his own house and was born two days before me so that makes him cool.

Special thanks to Sean Maytum for his artistic talent, encouragement and support. Also thanks to Mr. Graham Bone of Exeter, UK for his expertise and enthusiasm and to physicist Flip Tanedo for helpful explanations and interest, especially in supersymmetry.

I have had a lifelong interest in cosmology, the quantum world and theoretical physics. The particle plushies idea came about after attending a physics lecture at UCLA by Dr. Lawrence Krauss entitled "The Beginning and End of Time." A couple of difficult physics books later (including Lisa Randall's Warped Passages), I realized that the individual particles seemed to have various "personalities" that could be "felted out" with relative ease.

The particles are non-washable. They are novelty toys and not for children under 5 years of age. They make good cat toys but if your cats are anything like mine, it's best to keep them out of kitty's reach. OK, go ahead and play hacky-sack with them.

The particles are first of a line of art items factoring the equation: SCIENCE+ART=UNDERSTANDING.

The Particle Zookeeper periodically takes a few moments away from the Zoo to enjoy the particles of nature.

05 August 2008