The Infinity Puzzle, Frank Close
The Infinity Puzzle, Frank Close
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The Infinity Puzzle
Quantum Field Theory and the Hunt for an Orderly Universe

Author: Frank Close

Narrator: Jonathan Cowley

Unabridged: 12 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/26/2012

Categories: Nonfiction, Science, Physics

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

The second half of the twentieth century witnessed a scientific gold rush as physicists raced to chart the inner workings of the atom. The stakes were high: the questions were big, and there were Nobel Prizes and everlasting glory to be won. Many mysteries of the atom came unraveled, but one remained intractable—what Frank Close calls the "Infinity Puzzle."

The problem was simple to describe. Although clearly very powerful, quantum field theory—the great achievement of the 1930s—was making one utterly ridiculous prediction: that certain events had an infinite probability of occurring.
 
The solution is known as renormalization, which enables theory to match what we see in the real world. It has been a powerful approach, conquering three of the four fundamental forces of nature, and giving rise to the concept of the Higgs boson, the now much-sought particle that may be what gives structure to the universe. The Infinity Puzzle charts the birth and life of the idea, and the scientists, both household names and unsung heroes, who realized it.

Based on numerous firsthand interviews and extensive research, The Infinity Puzzle captures an era of great mystery and greater discovery. Even if the Higgs boson is never found, renormalization—the pursuit of an orderly universe—has led to one of the richest and most productive intellectual periods in human history. With a physicist's expertise and a historian's care, Close describes the personalities and the competition, the dead ends and the sudden insights, in a story that will reverberate through the ages.


About Frank Close

Frank Close is an eminent research theoretical physicist in nuclear and particle physics. Currently Emeritus Professor of Physics at Oxford University and a Fellow of Exeter College, he was formerly the Head of the Theoretical Physics Division at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. He served as Chair of the UK Space Exploration Working Group 2007 which culminated with Tim Peake's launch to the ISS. He is the author of several books, including the bestselling Lucifer's Legacy (2000), and his highly acclaimed biography of the Higgs Boson Elusive (2022). His other books include Antimatter (2018), Neutrino (2011), Eclipse: Journeys to the Dark Side of the Moon (2017), and A Very Short Introduction to Nuclear Physics (2015), Particle Physics (2004), and Nothing (2009). In 2013, Professor Close was awarded the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for communicating science and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2021.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Brian on October 27, 2011

This is a really important popular science book if you are interested in physics, because it covers some of the important bits of modern physics that most of us science writers are too afraid to write about. Starting with renormalization in QED, the technique used to get rid of the unwanted infiniti......more

Goodreads review by Michael on April 18, 2018

The book is written by a good scientist who wrote some other very clear work and about some fascinating hardcore particle physics. I fully expect it to be a 4- if not 5-star book. Unfortunately, this is deeply disappointing. No doubt it’s not a simple subject and it’s not easy for laymen to understa......more

Goodreads review by Charlene on July 14, 2016

Close provided a history of quantum physics from QED and Feynman's diagrams to the hunt for the Higgs. I never get tired of Feynman's antics, and it's clear Frank Close doesn't either. Like so many other researchers with new and bold ideas, Feynman's new ideas associated with QED were not taken seri......more

Goodreads review by Gendou on April 25, 2013

This is a detailed history of the discoveries of Quantum Electrodynamics (QED), Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), and their unification into the Standard Model by spontaneous symmetry breaking and the Higgs mechanism. It's one of those people-driven histories of science, which can get boring if not pett......more

Goodreads review by Abu Hayat on September 16, 2018

This book talks about the history of physics since the WWII. It has a particular discussion on two prominent figures in physics: the Dutch physicist Gerard 't Hooft, and the Pakistani physicist Abdus Salam. For general people, probably this is the best book on Higgs Boson, from the evolution of Higg......more