Peter Higgs: British physicist and Nobel Prize winner (1929–2024)
Peter Ware Higgs CH FRS FRSE (29 May 1929 – 8 April 2024) was an English theoretical physicist, and emeritus professor at the University of Edinburgh.
Peter Higgs | |
|---|---|
 Higgs in 2013 | |
| Born | Peter Ware Higgs 29 May 1929 |
| Died | 8 April 2024 (aged 94) |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | King's College London |
| Known for | Broken symmetry in electroweak theory Higgs boson Higgs field Higgs mechanism |
| Awards | Wolf Prize in Physics (2004) Sakurai Prize (2010) Dirac Medal (1997) Nobel Prize in Physics (2013) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics (theoretical) |
| Institutions | University of Edinburgh Imperial College London University College London |
| Thesis | Some problems in the theory of molecular vibrations (1955) |
| Doctoral advisor | Charles Coulson |
| Doctoral students | Christopher Bishop Lewis Ryder David Wallace |
Works
He was awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics for predicting the existence of the Higgs boson, the "most sought-after particle in modern physics". Higgs shared the prize with François Englert. Higgs was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2013.
In the 1960s, he proposed broken symmetry in electroweak theory. This explains the origin of mass of elementary particles in general. It also shows the origin of the W and Z bosons. The theory known as Higgs mechanism was proposed by several physicists at the same time. It proposes the existence of a new particle, the Higgs boson. On 4 July 2012, CERN announced they had found a new particle much like the Higgs boson in experiments, but that more work was necessary to analyse its properties and see if it had the properties expected from the Standard Model Higgs boson.
The Higgs mechanism is generally accepted as an important part of the Standard Model of particle physics, without which particles would have no mass.
Higgs has received a number of awards. These include the 1997 Dirac Medal and Prize for outstanding contributions to theoretical physics, the 2004 Wolf Prize in Physics, and the 2010 Sakurai Prize.
Death
Higgs died after a short illness at home in Edinburgh, Scotland on 8 April 2024, at the age of 94.
References
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