The very small in physics

30 years ago physicists discovered so small particles that they considered them as pinpoint, the standard model, that is based on this hypothesis has been successful to describe all the interactions between particles. This hypothesis leads to some paradoxes such as mass and charge of the bare electron are given infinite values by the standard model but in most cases results are accurate and fit experimental data. The problem of infinite values has been tackled during the fifties, an American physicist R.Feynman showed how infinite values could be prevented by imposing experimental values for the mass and the charge of the electron in the electrodynamic quantum theory. This article describes in a pedagogical way the links between basic interactions, internal structure of particles and standard model. (A.C.)