How did Gabriele Veneziano’s use of the Euler beta function contribute to the beginnings of string theory?

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What is string theory? — string theory Brian Greene explains the basic idea of string theory in under three minutes.

In 1968, physicist Gabriele Veneziano made a pivotal breakthrough at CERN by discovering that the Euler beta function—a mathematical formula dating back two centuries—could effectively describe experimental data regarding the strong force collected from particle accelerators.1

This discovery served as the foundation for what would become string theory. Shortly after, physicists Leonard Susskind, Holger Nielsen, and Yoichiro Nambu expanded upon Veneziano’s work by demonstrating that the underlying mathematics described the vibrational motion of tiny, filament-like strands of energy. This insight led to the realization that the strong force could be modeled as strings tethering particles at their endpoints, providing the conceptual origin for the theory's name.1