Francis Edwin Close (born 24 July 1945) is a

particle physicist Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the scale of protons and ...

who is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and a Fellow of

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and the fourth-oldest college of the university. The college was founde ...

Education

Close was a pupil at King's School, Peterborough (then a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

), where he was taught Latin by John Dexter, brother of author

Colin Dexter Norman Colin Dexter (29 September 1930 – 21 March 2017) was an English crime writer known for his ''Inspector Morse'' series of novels, which were written between 1975 and 1999 and adapted as an ITV (TV network), ITV television series, ''Inspec ...

. He took a BSc in physics at

St Andrews University The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

graduating in 1967, before researching for a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in theoretical physics at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

, under the supervision of Richard Dalitz, which he was awarded in 1970. He is an atheist.

Career

In addition to his scientific research, he is known for his lectures and writings making science intelligible to a wider audience and promoting physics outreach. From Oxford he went to

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in California for two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow on the

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Menlo Park, California, Menlo Park, Ca ...

. In 1973 he went to the

Daresbury Laboratory Daresbury Laboratory is a scientific research laboratory based at Sci-Tech Daresbury campus near Daresbury in Halton, Cheshire, England. The laboratory began operations in 1962 and was officially opened on 16 June 1967 as the Daresbury Nuclea ...

in Cheshire and then to

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in Meyrin, western suburb of Gene ...

in Switzerland from 1973 to 1975. He joined the

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It began as the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory, merged with the At ...

in Oxfordshire in 1975 as a research physicist and was latterly head of Theoretical Physics Division from 1991. He headed the communication and public education activities at CERN from 1997 to 2000. From 2001, he was professor of theoretical physics at Oxford. He was a visiting professor at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

from 1996 to 2002. Close lists his recreations as writing, singing, travel, squash and

Real tennis Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...

, and he is a member of Harwell Squash Club.

Honours and awards

*He became a

Fellow of the Institute of Physics Fellowship of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) is "the highest level of membership attainable" by physicists who are members of the Institute of Physics (IoP), "for those with a degree in physics or related subject (or equivalent knowledge gaine ...

(FInstP) in 1991. *The

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

awarded him its 1996 Kelvin Medal and Prize, which is given "for outstanding contributions to the public understanding of physics". *From 1993 to 1999, he was vice-president of the

British Association for the Advancement of Science The British Science Association (BSA) is a Charitable organization, charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Scienc ...

. *He was appointed an OBE in 2000. *Since 2003, he has been Chairman of the British team (BPhO) in the International Physics Olympiad, based at the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

. *2013 Awarded the Royal Society

Michael Faraday Prize ''The Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize and Lecture'' is awarded for "excellence in communicating science to UK audiences." Named after Michael Faraday, the medal itself is made of silver gilt, and is accompanied by a purse of £2500. Backgro ...

. *He became a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

(FRS) in 2021.

Christmas lectures

His

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825. The lectures present scientific subjects to a general audience, including yo ...

in 1993, entitled ''The Cosmic Onion'', gave their name to one of his books. He was a member on the council of the Royal Institution from 1997 to 1999. From 2000 to 2003 he gave public lectures as professor of astronomy at

Gresham College Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England that does not accept students or award degrees. It was founded in 1597 under the Will (law), will of Sir Thomas Gresham, ...

, London.

Publications

In his book, ''Lucifer's Legacy: The Meaning of Asymmetry'', Close wrote: "Fundamental physical science involves observing how the universe functions and trying to find regularities that can be encoded into laws. To test if these are right, we do experiments. We hope that the experiments won't always work out, because it is when our ideas fail that we extend our experience. The art of research is to ask the right questions and discover where your understanding breaks down." His 2010 book ''Neutrino'' discusses the tiny, difficult-to-detect particle emitted from radioactive transitions and generated by stars. Also discussed are the contributions of John Bahcall, Ray Davis,

Bruno Pontecorvo Bruno Pontecorvo (; , ''Bruno Maksimovich Pontecorvo''; 22 August 1913 – 24 September 1993) was an Italian–Russian nuclear physicist, an early assistant of Enrico Fermi and the author of numerous studies in high energy physics, especially o ...

, and others who made a scientific understanding of this fundamental building block of the universe. In ''The Infinity Puzzle: Quantum Field Theory and the Hunt for an Orderly Universe'' (2013), Close focuses on the discovery of the mass mechanism, the so-called Higgs-mechanism. In his 2019 book, ''Trinity: The Treachery and Pursuit of the Most Dangerous Spy in History'', Close recounts the life and the espionage of

Klaus Fuchs Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs (29 December 1911 – 28 January 1988) was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who supplied information from the American, British, and Canadian Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union during and shortly a ...

who passed atomic secrets to the Soviets during the race for development of the nuclear bomb. He concludes that "it was primarily Fuchs who enabled the Soviets to catch up with Americans". Other books include: ''Particle Physics:

A Very Short Introduction ''Very Short Introductions'' (''VSI'') is a book series published by the Oxford University Press (OUP). The books are concise introductions to particular subjects, intended for a general audience but written by experts. Most are under 200-page ...

'' , ''Antimatter'' and ''Nothing'' .

Works

* * ** * ** * (Published in the US as ''Apocalypse When?'') * ** * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

INSPIRE-HEP INSPIRE-HEP is an open access digital library for the field of high energy physics (HEP). It is the successor of the Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System (SPIRES) database, the main literature database for high energy physics since the 1 ...

Jodcast Interview with Professor Frank Close on the life, research and disappearance of Bruno Pontecorvo

Contributor to discussion on Eclipses for BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time

Video clips

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Close, Frank 1945 births Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Alumni of the University of St Andrews English atheists British physicists Theoretical physicists Particle physicists Quantum physicists People associated with CERN Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at The King's School, Peterborough People from Peterborough Academics of Gresham College