Massive: the particle that sparked the greatest hunt in science

• 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm on Sunday 04 November 2012
• The John Rylands Library, Manchester

Public lecture by Ian Sample as part of the Manchester Science Festival

Event Details

Ian Sample is a science correspondent for the Guardian and was shortlisted for the 2011 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books.

Why does anything have mass? In 1964 a British physicist named Peter Higgs, along with five others, put forward a theory describing an invisible field that pervades the cosmos and gives mass to the building blocks of nature. The scientific community embarked on the greatest hunt in modern science for the particle that would prove this theory, the Higgs boson. The ensuing decades saw a multinational, multibillion dollar quest, which included the construction of the world's largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider. Ian Sample takes us through the fascinating story behind this momentous pursuit.

Attending this event

This event is free to attend and open to all, however advanced booking is required. For further information on the venue and to book places, please visit the website. Doors will open at 2.00pm. This event is part of the Manchester Science Festival.

Enquiries: Contact the events team