In the early 1960s, three groups of physicists, working independently in different countries, stumbled upon an idea that would change physics and fuel the imagination of scientists for decades. That idea was the Higgs boson - to find it would be to finally understand the origins of mass - the last building block of life itself. Now, almost 50 years later, that particle has finally been discovered.Award-winning science writer Ian Sample weaves together the personal stories and inten...

The two towering achievements of modern physics are quantum theory and Einstein's general theory of relativity. Together, they explain virtually everything about the world we live in. But, almost a century after their advent, most people haven't the slightest clue what either is about.Did you know that there's so much empty space inside matter that the entire human race could be squeezed into the volume of a sugar cube? Or that you grow old more quickly on the top floor of a buildi...

The definitive, behind-the-scenes account of the greatest science story of our timeWinner of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science BooksA Best Science Book of the Year for the Guardian, Financial Times, and New ScientistIt was the universe’s most elusive particle, the linchpin for everything scientists dreamed up to explain how physics works. It had to be found. But projects as big as CERN’s Large H...

'A primer for the magical, near inexplicable world of quantum mechanics... Mind-blowing' Dara Ó BriainQuantum theory is so shocking that Einstein could not bring himself to accept it. It is so important that it underpins all modern sciences. Without it, we'd have no molecular biology, no understanding of DNA, no genetic engineering, no computers.A century after the development of quantum mechanics, In Search of Schrödin...

'This is about gob-smacking science at the far end of reason ... Take it nice and easy and savour the experience of your mind being blown without recourse to hallucinogens' Nicholas Lezard, GuardianFor most people, quantum theory is a byword for mysterious, impenetrable science. And yet for many years it was equally baffling for scientists themselves.In this magisterial book, Manjit Kumar gives a dramatic and superbly-written history of this fundam...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Thirteen extraordinary essays shed new light on the mystery of the universe—and on one of the most brilliant thinkers of our time.“[Hawking] sprinkles his explanations with a wry sense of humor and a keen awareness that the sciences today delve not only into the far reaches of the cosmos, but into the inner philosophical world as well.”—The New York Times Book ReviewIn his phenomenal bestseller ...

"A marvelously clear and engaging account of . . . the deepest mysteries of the quantum world and [converting] them into a useful technology." —Gregory Chaitin, author of Meta Math! The Quest for OmegaWhat is entanglement? It's a connection between quantum particles, the building blocks of the universe. Once two particles are entangled, a change to one of them is reflected—instantly—in the other, be they in the same lab or light-years apart. So counterintui...

The bestselling author of Fermat’s Last Theorem and The Code Book tells the story of the brilliant minds that deciphered the mysteries of the Big Bang. A fascinating exploration of the ultimate question: how was our universe created?Albert Einstein once said: ‘The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.’ Simon Singh believes geniuses like Einstein are not the only people able to grasp the physics that govern the universe. We all can.As w...

A guide to everything you need and want to know about quantum physics, how our universe works and our existence in it.Quantum physics is the most cutting-edge, important and fascinating area of modern science. We have all heard of Einstein's theory of relativity and Schrodinger's Cat - but do we really understand the mind-bending theories of our universe?In 50 concise chapters, Joanne Baker covers the foundation concepts o...

Speculation is rife that by 2012 the elusive Higgs boson will be found at the Large Hadron Collider. If found, the Higgs boson would help explain why everything has mass. But there's more at stake -- what we're really testing is our capacity to make the universe reasonable.Our best understanding of physics is predicated on something known as quantum field theory. Unfortunately, in its raw form, it doesn't't make sense -- its outputs are physically impossible infinite percentages wh...

In this compelling introduction to the fundamental particles that make up the universe, Frank Close takes us on a journey into the atom to examine known particles such as quarks, electrons, and the ghostly neutrino. Along the way he provides fascinating insights into how discoveries in particle physics have actually been made, and discusses how our picture of the world has been radically revised in the light of these developments. He concludes by looking ahead to new ideas about themystery...

An accessible look at the hottest topic in physics and the experiments that will transform our understanding of the universeThe biggest news in science today is the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and most powerful particle-smasher, and the anticipation of finally discovering the Higgs boson particle. But what is the Higgs boson and why is it often referred to as the God Particle? Why are the Higgs and the LHC so important? Getting a handle on the scienc...