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I hope I have helped to raise the profile of science and to show that physics is not a mystery but can be understood by ordinary people.

I do theoretical particle physics. We're trying to understand the most basic structure of matter. And the way you do that is you have to look at really small distances. And to get to small distances, you need high energies.

I was brought up as a physicist.

I'm fascinated with quantum physics.

I often feel a discomfort, a kind of embarrassment, when I explain elementary-particle physics to laypeople. It all seems so arbitrary - the ridiculous collection of fundamental particles, the lack of pattern to their masses.

Most people don't have time to master the very mathematical details of theoretical physics.

I am fascinated by quantum physics.

My interest in matters more directly concerned with the handling of particles was growing, in the meantime, stimulated by many contacts with people understanding accelerators.

Everything starts somewhere, although many physicists disagree.