  The standard model (SM) of particle physics has been supported by several
experimental findings, the most remarkable of them being the discovery of the
weak gauge bosons, W and Z. It is expected that the Higgs boson could show up
by 2007 at LHC, CERN. In spite of this, the unsatisfactory features of the SM
at conceptual level, and exclusion of gravity from the unification scheme have
led to explore 'the physics beyond the SM'.
  A critique and comprehensive review of the contemporary fundamental physics
was presented in a monograph completed in the centenary year,1997 of the
discovery of the electron. A radically new approach to address foundational
problems was outlined: masslessness of bare electron, interpretation of the
squared electronic charge in terms of the fractional spin, $e^2/c$; new
physicalsignificance of the electromagnetic potentials, 2+1 dimensional
internal structure of electron and neutrino, and composite photon are some of
the ideas proposed. Though the monograph was reviewed by E. J. Post(Physics
Essays, June1999), it has remained largely inaccessible. I believe some of
these unconventional ideas have a potential to throw light on the fundamental
questions in physics, and therefore deserve a wider dissemination.
  The reader may find illuminating to supplement Section 3 on the weak gauge
bosons with a candid, graceful and personal recollection by Pierre
Darriulat(CERN Courier, April 2004, p.13).
