Peter Higgs, a Big of Particle Physics, Dies at 94
The Nobel Prize-winning theorist’s prediction of the Higgs boson sparked a half-century quest of discovery that reshaped physics—and our understanding of the universe
Colleagues keep in mind Peter Higgs as an inspirational scientist, who remained humble regardless of his fame.
Colin McPherson/Corbis by way of Getty Pictures
Few scientists have loved as a lot fame lately as British theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, the namesake of the boson that was found in 2012, who died on eight April, aged 94.
It was 60 years in the past when Higgs first instructed how an elementary particle of surprising properties may pervade the universe within the type of an invisible discipline, giving different elementary particles their lots. A number of different physicists independently considered this mechanism across the similar time, together with François Englert, now on the Free College of Brussels. The particle was a vital component of the theoretical edifice that physicists had been constructing in these years, which later turned often called the usual mannequin of particles and fields.
Two separate experiments on the Giant Hadron Collider (LHC) close to Geneva, Switzerland — ATLAS and the CMS — confirmed Higgs’ predictions after they announced the discovery of the Higgs boson half a century later. It was the final lacking part of the usual mannequin, and Higgs and Englert shared a Nobel Prize in 2013 for predicting its existence. Physicists on the LHC continue to learn about the properties of the Higgs boson, however some researchers say that solely a devoted collider that may produce the particle in copious quantities — dubbed a ‘Higgs factory’ — will allow them to realize a profound understanding of its function.
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Inspiring determine
“Moreover his excellent contributions to particle physics, Peter was a very special person, an immensely inspiring determine for physicists around the globe, a person of uncommon modesty, an amazing trainer and somebody who defined physics in a quite simple but profound manner,” mentioned Fabiola Gianotti, director-general of CERN in an obituary posted on the group’s web site; Gianotti who introduced the Higgs boson’s discovery to the world at CERN. “I’m very saddened, and I’ll miss him sorely.”
Many physicists took to X, previously Twitter, to pay tribute to Higgs and share their favorite reminiscences of him. “RIP to Peter Higgs. The seek for the Higgs boson was my major focus for the primary a part of my profession. He was a really humble man that contributed one thing immensely deep to our understanding of the universe,” posted Kyle Cranmer, physicist on the College of Wisconsin Madison and beforehand a senior member of the Higgs search group on the CMS.
“I was fortunate to meet Peter Higgs in 2013 (days after the Nobel prize announcement). He was modest as he instructed a bunch of PhD college students the historical past of the boson concept. Afterwards, I used to be very fortunate to get my copy of the New York Instances with the invention signed by him,” mentioned Clara Nellist, a physicist on the College of Amsterdam and a member of the ATLAS particle-discovery collaboration.
“A career highlight was helping Peter into a cab after the Collider exhibition launch @sciencemuseum in 2013 with a service bag of special-edition beer marking his current Nobel,” posted Harry Cliff, a physicist on the College of Cambridge, UK.
“He disliked the limelight however was comfy with buddies and colleagues,” Frank Shut, a physicist on the College of Oxford, UK, and creator of the guide Elusive: How Peter Higgs Solved the Thriller of Mass (2022), mentioned in a press release to the UK Science Media Centre. “His boson took 48 years to seem, and when the Nobel was introduced, he had disappeared to his favorite sea meals bar in Leith.”
An thrilling journey
Higgs’ work continues to be of elementary significance, mentioned physicist Sinead Farrington on the College of Edinburgh. “We’re nonetheless on an thrilling journey to determine whether or not some additional predictions are true, specifically whether or not the Higgs boson interacts with itself within the predicted manner, and whether or not it would decay to different past the Normal Mannequin particles,” she instructed the Science Media Centre.
For physicist and science author Matt Strassler, Higgs’ demise represents ‘the end of an era’. “Higgs was a lucky scientist: he lived to see his perception at age 30 flip up in experiments 50 years later,” he posted on X. “His function and affect in our understanding of the #universe will probably be remembered for millennia.”
This text is reproduced with permission and was first published on April 10, 2024.
