Elusive

thorough and fascinating … Close spoke at length to Higgs and the result is a highly detailed and rich narrative … a piece of scientific history. – Jay Elwes * Spectator *An illuminating guide to the man and the science behind the Higgs boson … the tale of the conception and discovery of the Higgs boson, a tiny tremor in an energy field that pervades the whole universe, is one of the most important in modern physics. Without the Higgs there would be no atoms or people or planets or stars or anything except restless particles zipping through space in splendid isolation. Close, a particle physicist who has served as head of communications and public education at Cern, is an excellent guide to the knotty science of that story, as well as what we do know about the mysterious man himself. – Ananyo Bhattacharya * Guardian *a clear, vivid and occasionally even beautiful portrait of a scientific breakthrough: the tale of how a relatively obscure Scotland-based physicist developed a stunning theory, one that would help illuminate the invisible, particulate web that holds our universe together – Deborah Blum * New York Times *a five star book - it reaches parts other books on the Higgs have failed to reach and Frank Close does a brilliant job – Brian Clegg * Popular Science *A fascinating biography of an elusive particle and the equally elusive man who predicted its existence half a century before it was found. If the Higgs boson is the God particle then I feel I have glimpsed the mind of its creator. – Jim Al-KhaliliClose tells the intertwined stories of Higgs’s life and the discovery of the Higgs boson with the aid of a deep understanding of the physics involved and the benefit of many meetings with Higgs himself. There have been other books on the same theme, but this is far and away the best. Where Close excels is in explaining the fundamental principles of particle physics in language anyone likely to pick up this book will understand. … Elusive works as a biography of Peter Higgs, as an account of one of the greatest intellectual advances in human history and, best of all, as an answer to anyone who asks why we should bother to carry out experiments like those performed at CERN. Buy it. – John Gribbin * Literary Review *Close is among today’s best writers on the history of quantum mechanics – EconomistParticular brilliance … This accessible account tells the story of the quest, and of the man who made it possible * BBC History Magazine *reveals the sheer complexity, detail and dazzling precision that, for the scientist, constitutes ‘beauty in nature’. Close maintains a strong narrative line - we are watching and waiting throughout for the Higgs boson to be identified. – Sue Roe * Mail on Sunday *A perfect marriage of subject and writer. With verve, insight, and rigor, Frank Close beautifully illuminates the life and times of one of physics’ great, unheralded giants. Elusive is a triumph of a book, and one worthy of its subject’s extraordinary contributions. – bestselling author of The Founders * Jimmy Soni *

Frank Close is a Fellow of the Royal Society, Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics at Oxford University and Fellow Emeritus in Physics at Exeter College, Oxford. He is the author of The Infinity Puzzle- Quantum Field Theory and the Hunt for an Orderly Universe and most recently Trinity- The Treachery and Pursuit of the Most Dangerous Spy in History. He was formerly Head of the Theoretical Physics Division at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory at Harwell and Head of Communications and Public Education at CERN. He was awarded the Kelvin Medal of the Institute of Physics for his ‘outstanding contributions to the public understanding of physics’ in 1996, and the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for communicating science in 2013.