Some of their work involved X-rays produced by particle accelerators, devices that bring atomic particles into high energies.
VOA: special.2009.12.08
Although this might seem a little esoteric, discovery of this baryon provides further proof of the validity of the Standard Model of Particle Physics, and helps contribute to our understanding of atomic interactions.
Dr Kobayashi and Dr Maskawa, who were at Japan's High Energy Accelerator Research Organisation and Kyoto University respectively, described a type of symmetry breaking that predicted two new families of quarks, a sort of subatomic particle whose simplest members are the ingredients of the protons and neutrons that form atomic nuclei.