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The experimental observation of Higgs Boson in 2012 made Peter Higgs a household name and contributed immensely in sparking a new wave of interest in fundamental physics among the masses. However, very little is known about Peter Higgs, except his name. So today, on the mastermind’s 92nd birth anniversary, let’s have a voyage through his life and the revolutionary ideas curated by him.

Peter Higgs (Image: Nobel Media AB. (A. Mahmoud))
Peter Higgs (Image: Nobel Media AB. (A. Mahmoud))

Academic enrollments

Peter Higgs was born to Thomas Ware Higgs and his wife Gertrude Maude née Coghill in Newcastle on May 29, 1929. His father worked as a sound engineer for the BBC. Since Peter sufferer from asthma in his childhood, he had to miss some early schooling and hence was taught at home initially.

Later, he moved to London to study mathematics and physics at the age of 17. Following this, he received a bachelor’s degree in 1950 and received his Ph.D. from King’s College for a thesis entitled ‘Some Problems in the Theory of Molecular Vibrations.’ His Ph.D. work acted as a stepping stone for his life-long interest in applying the ideas of symmetry to physical systems.

In 1960, Peter was appointed as a lecturer in mathematical physics at Edinburgh. This is where he spent his remaining career, acting as a reader in mathematical physics and a professor of theoretical physics until his retirement in 1996.

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Research endeavors

Peter worked extensively in the arena of molecular spectroscopy and quantum field theory. However, his most remarkable work remains the theory that he postulated regarding the acquisition of masses by all the particles in our universe.

In 1962, Philip Warren Anderson proposed a mechanism (later known as the Higgs mechanism) to explain the origin of mass for gauge bosons. It was stated that without this mechanism, all the bosons would be considered massless, but measurements showed that the W+, W−, and Z0 bosons actually had relatively large masses of around 80 GeV/c2.

Peter Higgs came up with a solution to this problem. He developed the idea that all the particles were massless when the universe began. However, they acquired mass a fraction of a second later after interacting with a theoretical scalar field.

He further postulated that this theoretical field permeates space and gives mass to all elementary subatomic particles interacting with it. Although many other groups simultaneously had also posed similar solutions, none of them predicted the existence of a heavy boson associated with that scalar field like Peter.

Standard Model of Particle Physics
The Standard Model of Particle Physics

The Higgs Boson and the Nobel Prize

Particle physicists searched for the particle predicted by Peter Higgs for decades. Finally, on July 4, 2012, CERN announced that the ATLAS and Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiments had probably detected signs that somehow indicated the presence of an extremely massive particle in the mass region around 126 GeV/c2. This was perhaps the same particle predicted by Peter Higgs about 48 years ago and thus was named after him as Higgs Boson.

Ironically, the confirmation of the existence of the Higgs boson was made at the same place where Peter’s earlier paper concerning the same was rejected! Eventually, in 2013, the existence of Higgs Boson was officially confirmed, and the Nobel Prize in physics was jointly awarded to François Englert and Peter W. Higgs for their theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles.

'Nobody Took What I Was Doing Seriously' – The Inspiring Life and Work of Peter Higgs. 1
Peter Higgs receiving his Nobel Prize (Image: Nobel Media AB. (A. Mahmoud))

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Quality over quantity

Peter Higgs told The Guardian that no university would employ him in today’s academic system because he would not be considered “productive” enough. He has never sent an email, browsed the internet, or even made a mobile phone call. He published fewer than ten papers after his groundbreaking work, which identified the mechanism by which subatomic material acquires mass, published in 1964.

He doubts a similar breakthrough could be achieved in today’s academic culture because of the expectations on academics to collaborate and keep churning out papers. He said: “It’s difficult to imagine how I would ever have enough peace and quiet in the present sort of climate to do what I did in 1964.” Higgs said he became “an embarrassment to the department when they did research assessment exercises.” A message would go around the department saying: “Please give a list of your recent publications.” Higgs said: “I would send back a statement: ‘None.’

By the time he retired in 1996, he was uncomfortable with the new academic culture. “After I retired, it was quite a long time before I went back to my department. I thought I was well out of it. It wasn’t my way of doing things anymore. Today I wouldn’t get an academic job. It’s as simple as that. I don’t think I would be regarded as productive enough.”

Awards and Honors

Time and again, Peter Higgs has been honored with numerous awards in recognition of his exemplary work. Higgs became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1983 and even received the Wolf Prize in physics and the J.J. Sakurai Prize. After winning the Nobel in 2013, the Royal Society also honored him with the prestigious Copley Medal in 2015.

Peter Higgs believes strongly in science prowess and inspires generations to pursue research in the purest and the most diligent manner possible. 

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