The Infinity Puzzle: Quantum Field Theory and the Hunt for an Orderly Universe

With the mind of a scientist and the skill of a journalist, bestselling author and renowned physicist Frank Close gives us an insider's look at one of the most inspiring--and challenging--scientific breakthroughs of our time: the Large Hadron Collider, where the Higgs boson-like particle was discovered. Now updated with a new afterword.

About 40 years ago, 3 brilliant yet little-known scientists made discoveries that later inspired the construction of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva: a 27-kilometre-long machine which has already cost $10 billion, taken 20 years to build and promises to reveal how the universe itself came to be. The Infinity Puzzle is the inside story of those 40 years of research, breakthrough and endeavour. The work of Peter Higgs, Gerard 't Hooft and James Bjorken is explored here, played out against a backdrop of high politics, low behaviour and billion-dollar budgets. Eminent physicist and award-winning author Frank Close writes from within the action and draws upon his close friendships with those involved.

Frank Close is professor of theoretical physics at Oxford University, dean of Graduate Studies and fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. He has been fellow of the Institute of Physics since 1991 and was awarded the Institute's Kelvin Medal for his contributions to the Public Understanding of Physics. He was formerly the head of the Theoretical Physics Divisio at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and head of communications and public education at CERN. He is the author of several books, including the bestselling Lucifer's Legacy. His other books include Antimatter, Neutrino, The Cosmic Onion, Apocalypse When?, Too Hot to Handle and The Particle Odyssey.