World Quark Day
January 19 · Level 9 · #421 of 2238
World Quark Day is dedicated to quarks, the tiny particles that build protons and neutrons. It is a nudge to peek inside the atom and think about what everything is made of.
How it is celebrated: science fans read up on particle physics, watch popular lectures and try to explain to friends how an up quark differs from a down quark.
Quarks come in six flavours: up, down, charm, strange, top and bottom. Physicist Murray Gell-Mann borrowed the word from James Joyce's novel Finnegans Wake, which has the line "Three quarks for Muster Mark".