It is amazing that people like Peter can see so much using mathematics.
-Andy Parker
Peter Higgs is an Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Edinburgh. He received an Honorary Degree from the University of Cambridge in 2012, the Oratory from which can be read here.
Scientists at the University of Cambridge have been working at the LHC since 1989 and were among the research teams that founded the ATLAS experiment: one of two major experiments - along with the CMS - that led to the discovery of the Higgs particle.
For many in the field, last year’s sighting of the Higgs and the 40 year old theory that led to its pursuit amount to the most important scientific discovery of the 21st century - and that the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics simply couldn’t have gone to anybody other than those that instigated the quest for the elusive particle.
“I’m delighted to hear that Peter Higgs and François Englert have been awarded the Nobel Prize. This discovery changes our view of the way the world works in a very profound way, showing that the apparent solidity of matter is something of an illusion, and that the vacuum itself plays a key role," said Andy Parker, Professor of High Energy Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory and a founder of the ATLAS experiment for the LHC.
"It is amazing that people like Peter can see so much using mathematics. The experimental teams also deserve enormous credit for their skill and determination in revealing one of the best-kept secrets of Nature.”
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Image: Left: simulated production of a Higgs event in ATLAS. Right: Peter Higgs at Cambridge Honorary Degrees ceremony in 2012.
Credit: CERN/Sir Cam
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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