The Nature of Code

4 Particle Systems

That is wise. Were I to invoke logic, however, logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

—Spock

Positron (photo by Carl D. Anderson)

This early 20th-century photograph from a cloud chamber offers a glimpse into the world of subatomic particles, capturing the first ever observed positron. Cloud chambers are devices that make visible the paths of charged particles as they move through a supersaturated vapor.

In 1982, Lucasfilm researcher William T. Reeves was working on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Much of the movie revolves around the Genesis Device, a torpedo that, when shot at a barren, ...