The Particle Zoo was created to raise awareness and encourage a curiosity in particle physics, which got a boost of public interest recently with the Large Hadron Collider.
Julie Peasley is the Particle Zookeeper who makes these plushies with the help of a part-time assistant. She has a lifelong interest in particle physics. The idea to make these cute, stuffed particles came to her after she attended a lecture entitled “The Beginning and End of Time” at UCLA.
The plushies can be bought individually but they are also sold in theme packs like the Everyday Matter 6-pack (electron, up quark, down quark, electron-neutrino, neutron and proton). There is also the theoretical 4-pack which includes the graviton, tachyon, Higgs Boson, and Dark matter.
CERN actually gave out some Particle Plushies to past Nobel Laureates in physics at the Lindau, Germany conference earlier this year. Pictured here are Dr. David Gross (2004)and Dr. George Smoot (2006) holding a gluon and a photon, respectively.
Every month, the Particle Zoo donates $50-100 to a classroom in need.
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Particle Physics Toys
- Creating educational toys based on particle physics could be a disruptive innovation opportunity to promote science education.
- Personalized Science
- Offering customized collections of plushies based on a customer's favorite particles could be a unique marketing strategy for science-related businesses.
- Nerdy Merchandise
- Expanding on the Particle Zoo concept and creating a line of merchandise featuring other science-related concepts and theories could be a potential disruptive innovation for merchandise companies.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Education
- Partnering with schools and educational organizations to distribute Particle Zoo plushies and encourage an interest in science could be a beneficial move.
- Toy Manufacturing
- Creating a line of educational toys based on science concepts could be a unique direction for companies in the toy manufacturing industry.
- Merchandising
- Expanding on the Particle Zoo concept and offering other merchandise products based around science concepts and theories presents potential for profit growth for merchandise companies.
