Jonathan Allday has taught physics in schools for 30 years, latterly at the Royal Hospital School in the UK. After completing his Natural Sciences degree at Cambridge, he moved to Liverpool University for a PhD in particle physics, working on one of the last bubble chamber experiments at CERN. During this time, he was invited to join a group developing particle physics resources and syllabuses for examination at 16-18 level in the UK. From this work came the conviction that a book on particle physics and cosmology could be written that covered the material at a more detailed level than traditional popular accounts, yet still be accessible to those with a school-level understanding of maths and physics. Quarks, Leptons and the Big Bang was the result. Dr Allday has since gone on to write a range of other books on the Apollo missions, quantum theory and textbooks for schools. He regularly contributes articles to Physics Review magazine and spent a period as co-editor of Physics Education. He lives just outside Ipswich in the UK with his wife and three children who are much sportier than he is, and one of whom is currently studying Physics at Bristol University.
