Felix Lowe – författare

**Shortlisted for Cycling Book of the Year at the Cross British Sports Book Awards 2015**Cycling journalist Felix Lowe makes the leap from raconteur to rouleur, taking to the saddle for the first time to complete his very own grand tour of Europe.Lowe's light-hearted and entertaining travelogue charts his progress as he cycles 2,800 kilometres from Barcelona to Rome, crossing three countries and cycling over three mountain ranges, taking in some of cycling's most fabled climbs. As he follows in the tracks of some of the world's greatest wheelmen, Lowe puts professional cycling's three major stage races – the Tour de France, Vuelta a España and Giro d'Italia – under the microscope, whilst capturing the potent mix of madness, humour and human spirit that make people identify with the sport so strongly.Powered by local delicacies and his trademark blend of self-deprecating humour and barbed wit, Lowe takes readers on an immersive journey through the Catalonian countryside, over the Pyrenean foothills and the rolling plains of Languedoc, through the flowery fields of Provence, over winding Alpine passes, between the vineyards and olive groves of Piedmont, and down the Apennine backbone of Italy. His epic quest traces the footsteps of the celebrated Carthaginian general Hannibal, who led his own pachyderm peloton of 37 elephants over the Alps and all the way to the gates of Rome.As much about the regions traversed as the cyclists who have left their sweat in the soil, Lowe's insightful account celebrates the sport, examines the psychology of both the crazed amateur and the pedalling pro, and delves into the awesome march of a military genius who almost brought the Roman Empire to its knees.

The years 2025 to 2027 will mark the two-year celebration of the first centenary of quantum mechanics and the myriad of ensuing discoveries that have turned our world upside down.Its complexity required twenty-five years of gestation to take shape between the ears of the world's brightest minds. But none of the fathers of quantum mechanics could have done it alone; above all, the slow process took place while discussing, debating and developing the fine details of the theory in the lecture halls, gardens, hotel lobbies and dining rooms of Brussels during the triennial Solvay Conferences in Physics.Blending personal anecdotes and correspondence with unseen archive material and the compelling history of the Solvay dynasty, Quantum Chronicles intricately relays the adventure of quantum mechanics and the colourful cast of characters involved, highlighting the enormous influence of one man's philanthropy, ambition and passion for his "fifth child" in fostering this emerging science.Over the years, the Solvay Conferences provided a stage upon which the scientific elite built a conceptual edifice at the cutting edge of scientific progress — notably the development of quantum theory, the exploration of the atom, the invention of crystallography, breakthroughs in nuclear physics, the discovery of the structure of DNA, and the establishment of the Big Bang theory.Quantum Chronicles is a fly-on-the-wall account that strips away the shimmering perfection of science and its lofty practitioners to reveal the contortions that were necessary to bring modern physics into being. This ode to the unshakeable nature of the scientific spirit and the human foibles that have marked the evolution of science provides an exemplary response to the questions we ask today about the inner workings of scientific discoveries.