by Pedro Waloschek The following autobiographical account of Rolf Wideröe's life and work is based on manuscripts and letters written by hirnself, most ofthem especially for this report. Data from audio and video recordings with his illustrations and from my notes taken during aseries ofmeetings between the two ofus were also included. Rolf Wideröe gave me access to many of his publications and to other documents from which I have extracted further information. I have compiled, edited and, where necessary, put the texts in chronological order. These were then corrected and supplemented by Rolf Wideröe during the course of several readings. The English translation was also checked by Wideröe and we were able to add some improvements and corrections. This account there fore stands as an authorised biography and is written in the first person. Mrs. Wideröe's accurate memory was of great assistance. The emphasis has been on RolfWideröe's life story and the first developments which led to modem particle accelerators. Techni cal and scientific comments have been kept as comprehensive and concise as possible.

This book takes the readers through the science behind particle accelerators, colliders and detectors: the physics principles that each stage of the development of particle accelerators helped to reveal, and the particles they helped to discover. The book culminates with a description of the Large Hadron Collider, one of the world’s largest and most complex machines operating in a 27-km circumference tunnel near Geneva. The book provides the material honestly without misrepresenting the science for the sake of excitement or glossing over difficult notions. The principles behind each type of accelerator is made accessible to the undergraduate student and even to a lay reader with cartoons, illustrations and metaphors. Simultaneously, the book also caters to different levels of reader’s background and provides additional materials for the more interested or diligent reader.

From the linear accelerators used for cancer therapy in hospitals, to the giant atom smashers at international laboratories, this book provides a simple introduction to particle accelerators.

The first edition of Engines of Discovery celebrated in words, images and anecdotes the accelerators and their constructors that culminated in the discovery of the Higgs boson. But even before the Higgs was discovered, before the champagne corks popped and while the television producers brushed up their quantum mechanics, a new wave of enthusiasm for accelerators to be applied for more practical purposes was gaining momentum. Almost all fields of human endeavour will be enhanced by this trend: energy conservation, medical diagnostics and treatment, national security, as well as industrial processing. Accelerators have been used most spectacularly to reveal the structure of the complex molecules that determine our metabolism and life. For every accelerator chasing the Higgs, there are now ten thousand serving other purposes. It is high time to move from abstract mathematics and philosophy to the practical needs of humankind.It is the aim of this revised and expanded edition to describe this revolution in a manner which will attract the young, not only to apply their curiosity to the building blocks of matter but to help them contribute to the improvement of the quality of life itself on this planet. As always, the authors have tried to avoid lengthy mathematical description. In describing a field which reaches out to almost all of today's cutting edge technology, some detailed explanation cannot be avoided but this has been confined to sidebars. References guide experts to move on to the journal Reviews of Accelerator Science and Technology and other publications for more information. But first we would urge every young physicist, teacher, journalist and politician to read this book.