Two Nobel Prize winning physicists, including a 2013 Nobel laureate who predicted the Higgs boson, and the physicists who discovered quarks and “color,” were among the distinguished speakers at an April 11-12, 2014 University of Maryland symposium highlighting discoveries that sparked a physics revolution.

The sold-out event, "50 Years of Quarks & Color" recounted how our understanding of quarks has evolved since their discovery in 1964. The discovery of quarks, the building blocks of protons and neutrons, deepened our understanding of particle physics. This discovery and the concept that quarks carry different “colors,” or charges that explain their strong interactions, led to The Standard Model of Particle Physics, which explains what the world is and what holds it together. The symposium also highlighted future directions of particle physics research that will ultimately lead to a deeper understanding of nature.

In addition to Nobel laureates François Englert and Frank Wilczek, featured speakers included University of Maryland Physics Professor O.W. (Wally) Greenberg, who proposed that quarks have “color” charges; George Zweig, who proposed the existence of quarks; and Robbert Dijkgraff, director of the Institute for Advanced Study. More than a dozen other history-making physicists spoke at the event, which ran from 8:30 a.m. April 11 through 6:30 p.m. April 12 at College Park Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, 3501 University Blvd., East Hyattsville, MD 20783.