Frank Close
Professor Frank Close OBE FRS lives in Abingdon and is one of the founders of ATOM Festival. He is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and a former head of the theoretical physics division at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. He is the author of several bestselling books including 'Half Life' (the true story of Harwell physicist Bruno Pontecorvo), 'Trinity: The Treachery and Pursuit of the Most Dangerous Spy in History' about the life of Klaus Fuchs and “Elusive”, the story of the Higgs boson which was selected as a science book of 2022 by The Times and Sunday Times, The Guardian, Economist, Nature and Times Literary Supplement.
His latest book, Destroyer of Worlds is a prequel and sequel to the movie Oppenheimer, and tells the story of how the chance glimpse of energy leaking from the atom in 1896 led to the modern nuclear age.
Harwell @ 80: from quarks to quasars and protons to proteins
2026 is the 80th anniversary of the establishment of "The Atomic", officially the "Atomic Energy Research Establishment" at Harwell.
Originally built in a "rural backwater" to develop UK leadership in the peaceful use of nuclear energy, "The Atomic" has transformed scientific understanding across the whole range of scales, from
quarks to quasars and protons to proteins as well as altering local geography and society.
Today ATOM rightly celebrates Abingdon as the epicentre of big science. Not only did Harwell's early work lead to Calder Hall, the first commercial source of nuclear energy, but it developed the
standards for nuclear safety, radiobiology, development of radioisotopes for medicine, and more. The Medical Research Council was one of its first clients.
Today the campus includes work ranging from vaccines and the structure of matter to the vastness of space and astronomy.
The talk will show how science and technology have changed our world in the last 80 years and how much of that change can be traced back to Harwell. Harwell @80 is time to celebrate our nuclear heritage.
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