Imagine analyzing atomic collisions at the world's largest particle accelerator with the ultimate goal of determining how matter originally formed. Rutgers students have done this and more. Physics is the study of energy and the behavior of single atoms and their component pieces. Physicists are the most fundamental of scientists for they examine the basic laws of nature. They seek to study and understand what happens when atoms and subatomic particles break down and assemble, how they react to collisions with each other and to electro-magnetic radiation.