{"title":"Frank Close","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrank Close's works delve into the intricate world of science, unraveling complex concepts with clarity and insight. Readers can expect a compelling blend of \u003cem\u003ePhysics\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eScience \u0026amp; Nature\u003c\/em\u003e that brings subjects like atomic science and fundamental particles to life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBeyond scientific exploration, Close offers thoughtful reflections on history and society, touching on themes in \u003cstrong\u003eBiography \u0026amp; Memoir\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003ePolitics \u0026amp; Current Affairs\u003c\/strong\u003e. His writing invites readers to contemplate the broader implications of scientific discovery and its role in the modern world.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"elusive-by-frank-close-9780141997582","title":"Elusive","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn illuminating history of the man and the science behind the Higgs boson, \u003cem\u003ea piece of scientific history\u003c\/em\u003e (Spectator).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the summer of 1964, a reclusive young professor at the University of Edinburgh wrote two scientific papers which have come to change our understanding of the most fundamental building blocks of matter and the nature of the universe. Peter Higgs posited the existence of an almost infinitely tiny particle—today known as the Higgs boson—which is the key to understanding why particles have mass, and but for which atoms and molecules could not exist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor nearly 50 years afterwards, some of the largest projects in experimental physics sought to demonstrate the physical existence of this boson. Sensationally, confirmation came in July 2012 at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva. The following year Higgs was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis revelatory book is \u003cem\u003enot so much a biography of the man but of the boson named after him\u003c\/em\u003e. It brilliantly traces the course of much of twentieth-century physics from the inception of quantum field theory to the completion of the 'standard model' of particles and forces, and the pivotal role of Higgs's idea in this evolution. Drawing on conversations with Higgs over a decade (a figure generally as elusive as his particle), this is a superb study of a scientist and his era—and of how scientific knowledge advances.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46371205841132,"sku":"9780141997582","price":29.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/14777803482238.jpg?v=1744810560"},{"product_id":"destroyer-of-worlds-by-frank-close-9780241700860","title":"Destroyer of Worlds","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first full history for forty years of the development of nuclear power and the extraordinary minds behind it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHenry Becquerel's accidental discovery, in Paris in 1896, of a faint smudge on a photographic plate sparked a chain of discoveries which would unleash the atomic age.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDestroyer of Worlds\u003c\/em\u003e is the story of how the pursuit of this hidden source of nuclear power, which began innocently and collaboratively, was overwhelmed by the politics of the 1930s. Following the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it opened the way to a still more terrible possibility—a thermonuclear bomb, the so-called \"backyard weapon,\" that could destroy all life on Earth from anywhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe story spans decades and continents, moving from Becquerel to Ernest Rutherford, the Cambridge-based, New Zealand scientist who first split the atom. It expands to include Enrico Fermi in Rome, Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner in Berlin, and the Joliot-Curies in Paris, leading to the appearance of Robert Oppenheimer before climaxing with increasingly horrifying developments in the USA and USSR.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe roles of three remarkable women—Lise Meitner, Ida Noddack, and Irene Curie—are re-evaluated, and there are new insights into the work of Ettore Majorana, Fermi's mercurial but brilliant assistant, who mysteriously disappeared in 1938, possibly after foreseeing the explosive power of nuclear energy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAbove all, this is a story of how knowledge is often advanced by personal convictions and relationships, and indeed by chance, in a remarkable way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46545688101100,"sku":"9780241700860","price":65.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780241700860.jpg?v=1750036540"},{"product_id":"trinity-by-frank-close-9780141986449","title":"Trinity","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA thrilling history of the most damaging nuclear spy ever to undermine the West, by a leading scientific practitioner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTrinity\u003c\/em\u003e was the codename for the test explosion of the atomic bomb in New Mexico on 16 July 1945. This exceptional book, \u003cem\u003eTrinity\u003c\/em\u003e, tells the story of the bomb's metaphorical father, Rudolf Peierls; his intellectual son, the atomic spy, Klaus Fuchs, and the ghosts of the security services in Britain, the USA and USSR.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAgainst the background of pre-war Nazi Germany, the Second World War and the following Cold War, the book traces how Peierls brought Fuchs into his family and his laboratory, only to be betrayed. It describes how Fuchs became a spy, his motivations, and the information he passed to his Soviet contacts, both in the UK and after he went with Peierls to join the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos in 1944.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrank Close is himself a distinguished nuclear physicist—uniquely, the book explains the science as well as the spying. Fuchs returned to Britain in August 1946 and became central to the UK's independent effort to develop nuclear weapons. Close describes the febrile atmosphere at Harwell, the nuclear physics laboratory near Oxford, and the charged relationships which developed there, and shows how—despite mistakes made by both MI5 and the FBI—the net gradually closed around Fuchs, building an intolerable pressure which finally cracked him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Soviet Union exploded its first nuclear device in August 1949, far earlier than the US or UK expected. In 1951, the US Congressional Committee on Atomic Espionage concluded, 'Fuchs alone has influenced the safety of more people and accomplished greater damage than any other spy not only in the history of the United States, but in the history of nations'. This book is the most comprehensive account yet published of these events, and of the tragic figure at their centre.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46851870785772,"sku":"9780141986449","price":32.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/14666473482238.jpg?v=1759131152"},{"product_id":"destroyer-of-worlds-by-frank-close-9781802066029","title":"Destroyer of Worlds","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe full history of the development of nuclear power and the extraordinary minds behind it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHenry Becquerel's accidental discovery, in Paris in 1896, of a faint smudge on a photographic plate sparked a chain of discoveries which would unleash the atomic age. \u003cem\u003eDestroyer of Worlds\u003c\/em\u003e is the story of how pursuit of this hidden source of nuclear power, which began innocently and collaboratively, was overwhelmed by the politics of the 1930s, and following the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, opened the way to a still more terrible possibility: a thermonuclear bomb, the so-called \"backyard weapon\", that could destroy all life on earth—from anywhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSpanning decades and continents, the story moves from Becquerel to Ernest Rutherford, Enrico Fermi, Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and the Joliot-Curies, and on to the appearance of Robert Oppenheimer before climaxing with increasingly horrifying developments in the USA and USSR. It re-evaluates the important role played by three remarkable women—Lise Meitner, Ida Noddack, and Irene Curie—and provides new insights into the work of Ettore Majorana, who mysteriously disappeared in 1938.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the remarkable story of how knowledge is often advanced by personal convictions and relationships, and indeed by chance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233117450476,"sku":"9781802066029","price":37.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781802066029-destroyer-of-worlds-1.jpg?v=1787726204"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/frank-close.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}