Quantum Fields: The Building Blocks of Reality

The beginning of the 20th century, more specifically 1930s Europe, witnessed the dawn of arguably one of the greatest theories in human history: quantum mechanics. After almost a century of change, this wonder of imagination has morphed and taken many directions. One of these is quantum field theory (QFT) which is the subject of this chapter. If you enjoy physics and wish to understand why things are the way they are, then you must get your feet wet with QFT. It has been called the most successful theory in history, riding high since the 1950s and giving rise to the standard model of particle physics. This is the modern view of how nature works at the smallest scale, being proven right time and again by countless experiments and instruments like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). All in all, the story of how QFT came to be, and the Masters of Physics behind it, is a tale of wonder, furious rivalry but ultimate collaboration.