From Abdus Salam to the Higgs Boson

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From Abdus Salam to the Higgs boson Frank Close will tell a fifty-year history of physics in a public lecture The English scientist will be explaining to the public the long path made up of sacrifice, disappointment and discoveries in search for the Higgs boson, from the beginning until now. Wednesday 12th December 11.30 a.m. SISSA, Main Lecture Hall Via Bonomea 265, Trieste How did we get from Abdus Salam and John Ward’s pioneering studies to the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider, the largest and highest-energy particle accelerator ever built? Fifty years of research in physics devoted to the discovery of a theory to unify the forces of nature: a fascinating story told by Frank Close, University of Oxford, for the broad public on Wednesday 12th December at 11.30, Main Lecture Hall, at SISSA, International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, in a lecture entitled “The infinity Puzzle: From Abdus Salam to the HiggsBoson”. WHO IS FRANK CLOSE? Frank Edwin Close is an Oxford physicist and an expert in Physics of elementary particles, as well as a populariser of science. He has written several books, such as “The CosmicOnion”, “Neutrino” and “The Infinity Puzzle”, whose issues will be discussed during the lecture. After obtaining a PhD in Physics at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Dick Dalitz, Close worked at SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) and CERN for many years and then at the Rutherford Laboratory, as the head of the Theoretical Physics Sector. At CERN he was also in charge of communication and since 2001 he has been Professor at the University of Oxford. Currently he is delving into the life and works of Bruno Pontecorvo. Image credits: INTVGene (Flickr) http://www.flickr.com/photos/intvgene/370973576/lightbox/ Contact details: Press office: [email protected] Tel: (+39) 040 3787557 | (+39) 340-5473118, (+39) 333-5275592 via Bonomea, 265 34136 Trieste For further information on SISSA: www.sissa.it .

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