Massive: The Missing Particle That Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science

What is it that makes things heavy? It's a simple question, but after two hundred years of searching, scientists still don't have a final answer. The closest we've come to solving the mystery is a particle whose existence remains unproven. Its name is the Higgs boson, although it is commonly referred to as the "God particle."

In 1964, the British physicist Peter Higgs postulated an overarching theory of mass that introduced the concept of the Higgs boson. Though Higgs never managed to nail down the details, the scientific community became possessed by the race to prove the theory. The ensuing four-decade, multinational, multibillion dollar quest consumed the attention of scientific luminaries and world leaders eager to ensure that their country would be the one making the discovery.

The world's largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, is now fully functional, and set to resolve once and for all if the Higgs boson exists. Drawing upon unprecedented access to Peter Higgs, prize-winning science journalist Ian Sample reveals the fascinating story behind this momentous pursuit. Weaving together the personal narratives and international rivalries, Massive chronicles the immense effort to finally solve the mystery of mass.

Ian Sample is the science correspondent at the Guardian, and before that wrote news and features at New Scientist. He holds a Ph.D. in biomedical science and was named investigative journalist of the year in 2005 by the Association of British Science Writers.