Preface. Highlights in high-energy physics

The conference “The Rise of Particle Physics” was conceived in late 2023 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the J/ψ particle in 1974. Initially, we envisioned this conference as part of a series of history of physics events co-supported by the Institute of Physics (IOP); however, we soon recognized the need for a fully dedicated symposium. We applied for grants from Sapienza University of Rome and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), both of which decided to support our initiative. The conference took place at Sapienza University of Rome on the 23 and 24 September 2024. More information about the event can be found on the official conference website: https://www.roma1.infn.it/conference/rise-hep-roma/Following the conference, we began compiling and editing a document that includes (nearly) all written versions of the talks presented by the speakers. Finally, we established a collaboration with the editor Guido Tonelli with the purpose of publishing this work in the HiHep peer-reviewed journal. The resulting document offers a conceptual journey through some of the most significant steps in the construction of the Standard Model of particle physics.