This book narrates the history of the initiation and development of elementary particle physics in India and by Indians, focusing on the first half of the twentieth century. The thread is taken up with the introduction of Western science into India in the previous century. The contents are a mixture of science and biographies, interspersed with anecdotes and reflections on the historical and societal connections. The style is generally non-technical, with any technical issues explained and interwoven into the narrative. This book is of interest to scientists, to people with interest in science and the history of science, students curious about the initiation of science in the Indian context and about the famous Indian scientists, as well as administrators who wish to understand the roots of current Indian science, especially in the context of particle physics.

The possibility that we live in a higher-dimensional world with spatial dimensions greater than three started with the early work of Kaluza and Klein. However, in addressing experimental constraints, early model-builders were forced to compactify these extra dimensions to very tiny scales. With the development of brane-world scenarios it became possible to consider novel compactifications which allow the extra dimensions to be large or to provide observable effects of these dimensions at experimentally accessible energy scales. This book provides a comprehensive account of these recent developments, keeping the high-energy physics implications in focus. After an historical survey of the idea of extra dimensions, the book deals in detail with models of large extra dimensions, warped extra dimensions and other models such as universal extra dimensions. The theoretical and phenomenological implications are discussed in a pedagogical manner for both researchers and graduate students.