The Elusive Higgs Boson: Frank Close (#238)

Frank Close is Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics, and
Fellow Emeritus at Exeter College. He was formerly Head of
Theoretical Physics Division at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory,
vice President of the British Science Association and Head of
Communications and Public Understanding 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, an
OBE for 'services to research and the public understanding of
science in 2000, and the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for
communicating science in 2013. He is the only professional
physicist to have won a British Science Writers Prize on three
occasions. Author of 20 books about science, the latest "Elusive:
How Peter Higgs Solved the Mystery of Mass", marks the 10th
anniversary of the discovery of the Higgs Boson. On July 4, 2012,
the announcement came that one of the longest-running mysteries in
physics had been solved: the Higgs boson, the missing piece in
understanding why particles have mass, had finally been discovered.
On the rostrum, surrounded by jostling physicists and media, was
the particle’s retiring namesake—the only person in history to have
an existing single particle named for them. Why Peter Higgs?
Drawing on years of conversations with Higgs and others, Close
illuminates how an unprolific man became one of the world’s most
famous scientists. Close finds that scientific competition between
people, institutions, and states played as much of a role in making
Higgs famous as Higgs’s work did. Topics Discussed Include: The
mystique and character of Peter Higgs A brief history of CERN and
the LHC The influence of Freeman Dyson. What part did the Nobel
Prize play in motivating Peter Higgs? A brief history of particle
physics and super-colliders. The Large Electron Positron (LEP)
Collider, precursor to the LHC. The Nobel Prize for the Higgs
Boson: Was it given fairly? Who deserves credit? Frank's advice to
his younger self for going into the impossible. Watch my most
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