What is the void? What remains when you take all the matter away? Can empty Space (nothing) exist?

To answer these questions, eminent scientist Frank Close takes us on a lively and accessible journey that ranges from ancient ideas and cultural superstitions to the frontiers of current research, illuminating the story of how scientists have explored the void and the rich discoveries they have made there. Readers will find an enlightening history of the vacuum: how the efforts to make a better vacuum led to the discovery of the electron; the understanding that the vacuum is filled with fields; the ideas of Newton, Mach, and Einstein on the nature of space and time; the mysterious aether and how Einstein did away with it; and the latest ideas that the vacuum is filled with the Higgs field.

The story ranges from the absolute zero of temperature and the seething vacuum of virtual particles and anti-particles that fills space, to the extreme heat and energy of the early universe. It compares the ways that substances change from gas to liquid and solid with the way that the vacuum of our universe has changed as the temperature dropped following the Big Bang. It covers modern ideas that there may be more dimensions to the void than those that we currently are aware of and even that our universe is but one in a multiverse.

The Void takes us inside a field of science that may ultimately provide answers to some of cosmology's most fundamental questions: what lies outside the universe, and, if there was once nothing, then how did the universe begin?

Written for any reader interested in scientific conundrums, this small volume contains a wealth of fascinating ideas about nothingness and the history of their study. Vacuums, space, air, and the notion that nature abhors a vacuum are among the things discussed in lucid prose and accompanied by drawings and diagrams. Close (physics, Oxford U., the UK), who has a published extensively on particle physics, has also won awards for making physics accessible to the public. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

"It's a nice read for people with little background knowledge"--New Scientist

"Close is a particle physicst at heart, and he hist his stride as he explains why scientists now don't think a void is really empty at all, but is teeming with particles popping in and out of existence and pervaded by contemporary version of the ether, called the Higgs field."--Publishers Weekly

"The Higgs boson remains the missing ingredient of the remarkably successful standard model of particle physics that describes interactions between the sub-nuclear elementary particles to an impressive precision, and The Void provides an introduction to the underlying concepts. It is nice to think that the explanations may help the physics community share its extraordinary excitement and anticipation with others."--The Times Higher Education Supplement

"It's a nice read for people with little background knowledge"--New Scientist

"Close is a particle physicst at heart, and he hist his stride as he explains why scientists now don't think a void is really empty at all, but is teeming with particles popping in and out of existence and pervaded by contemporary version of the ether, called the Higgs field."--Publishers Weekly

"The Higgs boson remains the missing ingredient of the remarkably successful standard model of particle physics that describes interactions between the sub-nuclear elementary particles to an impressive precision, and The Void provides an introduction to the underlying concepts. It is nice to think

that the explanations may help the physics community share its extraordinary excitement and anticipation with others."--The Times Higher Education Supplement

An eminent scientist takes readers on a lively and accessible journey that ranges from ancient ideas and cultural superstitions to the frontiers of current research, illuminating the story of how scientists have explored what lies outside the universe.

This short, smart book tells you everything you need to know about "nothing." What remains when you take all the matter away? Can empty space--"nothing"--exist? To answer these questions, eminent scientist Frank Close takes us on a lively and accessible journey that ranges from ancient ideas and cultural superstitions to the frontiers of current research, illuminating the story of how scientists have explored the void and the rich discoveries they have made there. Readers will find an enlightening history of the vacuum: how the efforts to make a better vacuum led to the discovery of the electron; the ideas of Newton, Mach, and Einstein on the nature of space and time; the mysterious aether and how Einstein did away with it; and the latest ideas that the vacuum is filled with the Higgs field. The story ranges from the absolute zero of temperature and the seething vacuum of virtual particles and anti-particles that fills space, to the extreme heat and energy of the early universe.

Frank Close, OBE, is Professor of Physics at Oxford University and a Fellow of Exeter College. He was formerly vice president of the British Association for Advancement of Science, Head of the Theoretical Physics Division at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and Head of Communications and Public Education at CERN. He is the author of several books, including the best-selling Lucifer's Legacy, and was the winner of the Kelvin Medal of the Institute of Physics for his outstanding contributions to the public understanding of physics. His other books include Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction, The Cosmic Onion, The Particle Explosion, Too Hot to Handle, and The Particle Odyssey.

The Vacuum

1. Fields

2. Space

3. The Electromagnetic Ether

4. Space-Time

5. The Quantum Vacuum

6. The Higgs Vacuum and Phases

7. The New Void