ATOM welcomes back Professor Frank Close OBE FRS to give the definitive account of the Higgs boson story. After 33 hours of phone conversations with Higgs during the pandemic, Professor Close wrote the award-winning science bestseller, Elusive, which has been chosen as one of 2022’s Science Books of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times, The Guardian, Economist, Nature and the Times Literary Supplement.

Before this, there will be an introduction to a new competition for Abingdon schools, based on the global competition, Fame Lab, which talent-spots and nurtures scientists to communicate their work. This local competition aims to inspire schools students with science, nurture their communication skills and widen their perspectives. Dr Kathy Sykes, OBE, is the Founder of Fame Lab and the Cheltenham Science Festival – which runs Fame Lab. She went to Fitzharries, is an Abingdon resident and a celebrated science communicator, including presenting numerous science programmes for the BBC. She will give a short talk describing Fame Lab and the competition and its possible impacts. She will invite comments, ideas and contributions from the audience.