Peter Higgs - 10 things to know with detail
- 1. Peter Higgs is a British theoretical physicist who was born on May 29, 1929, in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
- 2. He is best known for his proposal of the Higgs mechanism, which explains how particles acquire mass. This theory was crucial in the development of the Standard Model of particle physics.
- 3. The Higgs mechanism predicts the existence of a new particle called the Higgs boson, which was discovered in 2012 by scientists at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
- 4. Higgs received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013, along with François Englert, for their work on the Higgs mechanism and the prediction of the Higgs boson.
- 5. He studied at King's College London and the University of Edinburgh, where he received his PhD in theoretical physics in 1954.
- 6. Higgs has held various academic positions throughout his career, including professorships at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Swansea.
- 7. He has received numerous awards and honors for his work, including the Wolf Prize in Physics in 2004 and the Copley Medal from the Royal Society in 2015.
- 8. Higgs is known for his modesty and reluctance to seek the spotlight, preferring to focus on his research and teaching.
- 9. Despite his groundbreaking contributions to physics, Higgs has expressed concerns about the direction of modern science, particularly the emphasis on academic competition over collaboration.
- 10. Higgs continues to be active in the scientific community, attending conferences and giving talks on topics related to particle physics and the Higgs boson.