The discovery of asymptotic freedom and the emergence of QCD

The progress of science is much more muddled than is depicted in most history books. This is especially true of theoretical physics, partly because history is written by the victorious. Consequently, historians of science often ignore the many alternate paths that people wandered down, the many false clues they followed, the many misconceptions they had. These alternate points of view are less clearly developed than the final theories, harder to understand and easier to forget, especially as these are viewed years later, when it all really does make sense. Thus, reading history one rarely gets the feeling of the true nature of scientific development, in which the element of farce is as great as the element of triumph.

The emergence of QCD is a wonderful example of the evolution from farce to triumph. During a very short period, a transition occurred from experimental discovery and theoretical confusion to theoretical triumph and experimental confirmation. In this Nobel lecture, I shall describe the turn of events that led to the discovery of asymptotic freedom, which in turn led to the formulation of QCD, the final element of the remarkably comprehensive theory of elementary particle physics—the Standard Model. I shall then briefly describe the experimental tests of the theory and the implications of asymptotic freedom.