Physicist Peter Higgs died on Monday (8) at the age of 94 following a “sudden illness”, according to the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, where he was a professor emeritus. The researcher was responsible for the discovery of the Higgs boson, also known as the “God particle.”.
Born in Newcastle, England, in 1929, the scientist was inspired by the work of another famous physicist, Paul Dirac, one of the founders of quantum mechanics. Higgs graduated top of his physics course from King’s College London in 1950 and began his research a year later.
In 1964, the British, along with five other scientists, proposed the existence of a new particle, the Higgs boson, as part of the standard model of physical particles. Its existence was only confirmed in 2012 by experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the particle accelerator at CERN in Switzerland.
“Peter Higgs was an extraordinary individual; He was a truly gifted scientist whose vision and imagination enriched our knowledge of the world around us. His pioneering work has motivated thousands of scientists, and his legacy will continue to inspire many more for generations to come,” Peter Mathieson, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, said in a statement.
“God Particle”
The Higgs boson is a subatomic particle that plays an important role in the Standard Model. Explaining the physics of the formation of the universe. According to the theory announced in the 1960s, an invisible force called the Higgs field joined the boson of the same name shortly after the Big Bang, enabling other particles to gain mass.
The almost 50-year delay in proving the existence of such a particle is due to its extreme instability; This causes it to be broken into even smaller pieces and requires the use of equipment such as CERN’s particle accelerator. It was nicknamed the “God Particle” because it is the element that makes the universe possible.
By formulating the theory of how particles gain mass, Peter Higgs won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Belgian scientist François Englert.The one who presented the same discovery about the mechanism.
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Source: Tec Mundo
I’m Blaine Morgan, an experienced journalist and writer with over 8 years of experience in the tech industry. My expertise lies in writing about technology news and trends, covering everything from cutting-edge gadgets to emerging software developments. I’ve written for several leading publications including Gadget Onus where I am an author.
