Particle Physics Summary : a digest of the 1996 Review of Particle Physics

This report summarizes the highlights of the 1996 {ital Review} {ital of} {ital Particle} {ital Physics} (Phys. Rev. D {bold 54}, 1 (1996)). Using data from previous editions, plus 1900 new measurements from 700 papers, we list, evaluate, and average measured properties of gauge bosons, leptons, quarks, mesons, and baryons. We summarize searches for hypothetical particles such as Higgs bosons, heavy neutrinos, and supersymmetric particles. We also give numerous reviews, tables, figures, and formulae. The present edition marks the apparent completion of the table of Standard Model quarks with the discovery of the top. A booklet is available containing the Summary Tables and abbreviated versions of some of the other sections of the full {ital Review}. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}