Important discoveries in HEP, experimental

[Locrian]

I was wonder what you felt the important experimental discoveries in high energy physics over the past twenty five years have been? This is a subject I'm not familiar with and would like to do a bit of reading on my own.

For instance, I imagine the possible mass of the neutrino would be on the list.

If there is a site or thread I should reference please let me know.

Thank you for your time.

 

[ZapperZ]

Off the top of my head, the discovery of the top quark and the discovery of the W and Z vector bosons.

Zz.

 

[Locrian]

Thanks for your reply, Zapperz

 

[jtbell]

How about the (so far) non-discovery of proton decay? There were some high-profile experiments looking for this in the 1980s, and there was some disappointment when they didn't find anything.

 

[vanesch]

Neutrino oscillations. It was the only real "surprise" as far as I know (meaning, not really totally expected when discovered).

I agree with jtbell that the only other "surprise" was the unexpected stability of the proton.

All the other discoveries were expected discoveries, with sometimes only the "mass parameter" or something of the kind only roughly known before actual discovery.