Chapter 1, “The Road to Quarks,” traces the period from 1896, with Henri Becquerel’s accidental discovery of radioactivity, to 1935 with Hideki Yukawa’s theory of the nuclear force.

Discoveries of radioactivity by Becquerel; the nucleus by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, as interpreted by Ernest Rutherford; the range of the nuclear force by Rutherford and James Chadwick; and the discovery of the neutron by Chadwick, are briefly described. Concepts from quantum mechanics and quantum field theory necessary to explain Heisenberg’s unsuccessful attempt to understand the nuclear force, and Yukawa’s successful theory of pion exchange, are explained. These include Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, quantum fluctuations of quantum fields, and virtual particles as the carriers of force.

Row upon row of Victorian terraced houses in areas such as Romsey testify to the huge expansion of Cambridge in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The author shows how the growth of town and University was hastened by the enclosure of the medieval open fields, the arrival of the railway in 1845 and long overdue reforms to the University. The population of the University swelled as it finally opened its doors to scholars of different religions in 1856, and to women in 1869. The author looks at pioneer women at Newnham and Girton, the first Black students, and the first academic wives permitted in Cambridge. The role of University abolitionists and campaigners such as Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce and Olaudah Equiano are also explored. When the Duke of Devonshire founded the Cavendish Laboratory, there followed a tremendous period of scientific advance which included the discovery of the electron and neutron and splitting of the atom, led by J. J. Thomson, Rutherford and Chadwick. Significant individuals such as Darwin, Wittgenstein, Keynes, Virginia Woolf and poet Rupert Brooke are also included, as are the charms of Grantchester Meadows and the Orchard Tea Garden.