he was known for his study of particle physics, the smallest parts that make up the universe. these small particles behaved in ways that did not appear to follow the known laws of physics, and gell-mann came up with the idea of giving them a strangeness number which could allow them to be compared and put into categories. he also came up with idea that parts of an atom, the proton ad the neutron were made up of even smaller particles. he called the quarks, a nonsense work from james joyce's book, "finnigan's wake".