Peter Higgs, Nobel Prize winner and creator of the God particle theory, dies

The British scientist was recognized for his theory of the Higgs boson. He was 94 years old.

Peter Higgs, ganador del Nobel — (Cordon Press)

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9 de abril, 2024

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British scientist Peter Higgs, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013 for his Higgs boson theory or the 'God particle,' which was considered the key to understanding the structure of matter, has died at the age of 94. The news was confirmed by the University of Edinburgh, where he was an emeritus professor.

"The University mourns the loss of renowned physicist Professor Peter Higgs, who has died after a short illness. Professor Higgs is best known for predicting the existence of a fundamental physical particle that came to bear his name – the Higgs boson. He was a researcher at the University in 1964 when he predicted the particle, which enables other particles to acquire mass," the university wrote.

His idea was validated by experiments almost 50 years later, in 2012, at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland. The discovery was followed by the award of a Nobel Prize for Professor Higgs in 2013.

The university recalled that Peter Higgs was born on May 29, 1929, in Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1950, he completed his bachelor's degree in physics at King's College London, followed by a master's degree the following year and a PhD in 1954. During a visit for the summer festival season in his youth, he discovered Edinburgh and decided to settle there.

"Professor Higgs joined the staff of the University of Edinburgh in 1960, when he took up a lectureship in Mathematical Physics at the Tait Institute. He was promoted to Reader in 1970, and to Personal Chair of Theoretical Physics in 1980.  He retired in 1996, becoming Professor Emeritus. Many years later, in 2012, experiments at the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator at Cern finally confirmed the existence of the Higgs boson," the university added.

The following year, Professor Higgs was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, jointly with Professor François Englert of the Université libre de Bruxelles. He became a member of the Order of Companions of Honour, the highest royal honor available, in the same year.