British physicist Peter Higgs, Nobel Prize winner in 2013 for his work on the Higgs boson, an elementary particle considered the keystone of the fundamental structure of matter, died Monday at the age of 94, announced Tuesday the University of Edinburgh.
“He passed away peacefully at his home on Monday April 8 following a short illness,” said the university, of which the scientist was an emeritus professor for a long time, in a press release.
Peter Higgs received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013 with the Belgian François Englert. They were rewarded for having laid the theoretical foundations, in 1964, which would lead to the discovery of the boson in 2012 within the Swiss laboratory of CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research, located near Geneva).
The Higgs boson is considered by physicists to be the keystone of the fundamental structure of matter, the elementary particle which gives their mass to many others, in accordance with the so-called “Standard Model” theory.
In efforts to popularize this discovery, the boson has been nicknamed the “God particle” because it is everywhere, while being particularly elusive because it is extremely unstable.
Peter Higgs, who said he hated gadgets like cell phones, said he learned he had received the Nobel in the street when a former neighbor approached him to congratulate him.
” How do I feel ? Well, obviously I’m delighted and quite relieved in a sense that it’s over. It took a long time to happen,” he said.
“Rare modesty”
“Peter Higgs was a remarkable person — a truly gifted scientist whose vision and imagination enriched our knowledge of the world around us,” said Peter Mathieson, director of the University of Edinburgh, quoted in the press release.
“His pioneering work motivated thousands of scientists, and his legacy will continue to inspire many more for generations to come,” he added.
CERN Director General Fabiola Gianotti praised the memory of “an immensely inspiring figure for physicists around the world, a man of rare modesty, a great teacher and someone who explained physics in a way that very simple and yet profound.
Born on May 29, 1929 in Newcastle, northern England, Peter Higgs held a doctorate from King’s College London and held several honorary degrees and numerous awards (Royal Society, Institute of Physics, etc.).
He had postulated for the first time in 1964 the existence of the boson, theoretically, while at the same time two Belgians, Mr. Englert, currently aged 91, and Robert Brout, who died in 2011, launched the first work on the subject.
After five decades of failures, CERN announced its discovery on July 4, 2012, thanks to the largest particle accelerator in the world.
“I absolutely did not imagine that this would happen in my lifetime,” declared this man with red cheeks, white eyebrows and a bald head, in a video broadcast after the announcement.