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For the second annual Gibraltar Lecture, world-renowned scientist and writer Professor Frank Close reveals the true story about Harwell physicist Bruno Pontecorvo who disappeared from Britain’s atomic energy laboratory in Oxfordshire in 1950 only to turn up six years later on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Close has had unprecedented access to archives, letters, family members and other scientists in telling Pontecorvo’s story. Pontecorvo worked on the Anglo-Canadian arm of the Manhatten Project and was privy to many secrets. He uncovered a way to find the uranium so coveted by nuclear powers.

Close is professor of physics at the University of Oxford and a former head of the theoretical physics division at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. He is author of bestselling books including Lucifer’s Legacy and Antimatter and has twice won the Association of British Science Writers award.

The Gibraltar Lecture is delivered each year at the festival and takes the form of an address, an ‘in conversation’ or a debate.

The lecture is devoted to matters of major cultural, historical or international importance, at the invitation of Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar. It will be introduced by the Hon Samantha Sacramento MP, Minister for Tourism, Equality, Social Services and Housing, HM Government of Gibraltar.

Sponsored by Gibtelecom.