在量子力学里，粒子可以分为玻色子（英语：boson）与费米子。保罗·狄拉克为了纪念印度物理学者萨特延德拉·玻色的贡献，因此给出玻色子的命名。玻色与阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦合作发展出的玻色-爱因斯坦统计可以描述玻色子的性质。在所有基本粒子中，标准模型的几个传递作用力的规范子，光子、胶子、W玻色子、Z玻色子都是玻色子，赋予基本粒子质量的希格斯子是玻色子，已被证实。在量子引力理论里传递引力的引力子也是玻色子，尚未被证实存在。在复合粒子里，介子是玻色子，质量数为偶数的稳定原子核，像重氢H（原子核由一颗质子和一颗中子组成，质量数为2）、氦-4、铅-208等也是玻色子，准粒子像库柏对、等离体子、声子等都是玻色子。

In quantum mechanics, a boson (/ˈboʊsɒn/, /ˈboʊzɒn/) is a particle that follows Bose–Einstein statistics. Bosons make up one of the two classes of particles, the other being fermions. The name boson was coined by Paul Dirac to commemorate the contribution of the Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose in developing, with Einstein, Bose–Einstein statistics—which theorizes the characteristics of elementary particles. Examples of bosons include fundamental particles such as photons, gluons, and W and Z bosons (the four force-carrying gauge bosons of the Standard Model), the recently discovered Higgs boson, and the hypothetical graviton of quantum gravity; composite particles (e.g. mesons and stable nuclei of even mass number such as deuterium (with one proton and one neutron, mass number = 2), helium-4, or lead-208); and some quasiparticles (e.g. Cooper pairs, plasmons, and phonons).