This invaluable book is a historical account of the Cornell Electron Storage Ring and its main detector facility, CLEO, from their beginnings in the late 1970's until the end of data collection at particle energies above the threshold for B meson production in June 2001. The CESR electron–positron collider was the culmination of a series of electron accelerators constructed at the Cornell Laboratory of Nuclear Studies, starting in 1945. Measurement of the products of the e⁺e^– collisions was performed with the multipurpose CLEO apparatus, built and operated by the CLEO collaboration, which consisted of about 200 faculty, staff and graduate students from over 20 universities. This account is based mainly on the author's recollections as a participant.

Contents:

• The Rise of Accelerators
• Synchrotrons and More Synchrotrons, up to 1975
• Approval and Construction, 1977–1979
• First Data, 1979–1980
• The CESR-II Blind Alley, 1980–1983
• The CLEO-1 Years, 1981–1988
• Improving CESR, 1981–1988
• The CLEO-2 Years, 1989–1995
• CESR and CLEO Phase II Upgrade, 1990–1995
• Building CLEO-3, 1996–2000
• Phase III CESR Upgrade, 1996–2001
• A New Director and a New Direction, 2000–...
• and other papers

“The story of how Cornell survived and prospered as similar laboratories foundered is a fascinating one … Berkelman has a straightforward and clear style, and there are several interesting and enlightening illustrations … physicists who either know and/or love the Cornell that is the real hero of this book, or who wish to discover the reasons behind its remarkable and in many ways unique success, will find much food for thought in this interesting and valuable exposition.”

“High-energy physicists will learn much from this fascinating narrative.”

“Karl Berkelman has provided a wealth of fascinating information on the scientific, technical, financial and human aspects of this world-class but cost-effective endeavour, backed up by appendices containing detailed lists of the institutions and people involved and the resulting 300 publications. The book is well worth reading by anyone interested in how particle physics is actually done.”