  The basic theoretical milestones were the Sakata SU(3) symmetry, the
Goldberg-Ne'eman composite model with SU(3) triplets having baryon number (1/3)
and the Nambu color gauge Lagrangian. The transition was led in right and wrong
directions by experiments interpreted by phenomenology. A "good" experiment on
$\bar p p$ annihilation at rest showed that the Sakata model predictions
disagreed with experiment. A "bad" experiment prevented the use of the
Goldberg-Ne'eman triplet model to predict the existence and masses of the of
the $\Xi^*$ and $\Omega^-$. More "good" experiments revealed the existence and
mass of the $\Xi^*$ and the $\Omega^-$ and the absence of positive strangeness
baryon resonances, thus confirming the "tenfold way". Further "good
experiments" revealed the existence of the vector meson nonet, SU(3) breaking
with singlet-octet mixing and the suppression of the $\phi \to \rho \pi$ decay.
These led to the quark triplet model. The paradox of peculiar statistics then
arose as the $\Delta^{++}$ and $\Omega^-$ contained three identical spin-1/2
fermions coupled symmetrically to spin (3/2). This led to color and the Nambu
QCD. The book "Lie Groups for Pedestrians" used the Sakata model with the name
"sakaton" for the $pn\Lambda$ triplet to teach the algebra of SU(3) to particle
physicists in the U.S. and Europe who knew no group theory. The Sakata model
had a renaissance in hypernuclear physics in the 1970's.
