Nearly 50 years after it was first theorized and 20 years after the experiment that helped to find it was first sketched out on a napkin, the Higgs boson has helped win the UK its 120th Nobel Prize. The 2013 Nobel Prize for Physics has gone to Professor Peter Higgs and Professor Francois Englert for their prediction of the existence of the Higgs in the 1960s. The hugely sought after particle was discovered in 2012 with the Large Hadron Collider amidst a wave of public excitement. Finding the Higgs boson marked a significant breakthrough in our understanding of the fundamental laws that govern the universe. The knowledge gained in two decades of work at CERN on this has revolutionized our everyday lives.

The University of Edinburgh’s Professor Peter Higgs won the prize for the theory he developed in 1964 that fundamental particles have mass due to their interaction with a Higgs field. Francois Englert, Professor Emeritus at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles has also been named on the prize.

Science and Universities Minister David Willetts said: “I congratulate Professor Peter Higgs on his Nobel Prize. Higgs’ contribution to scientific discovery in the UK is enormous. Our Nobel Laureate thoroughly deserves this prestigious award.”

“We should also celebrate the efforts of the thousands of scientists and engineers all over the world who have worked on the Large Hadron Collider and the long search for the Higgs boson.”

“This is the 23rd Nobel Prize for Physics to come to the UK — we should all be very proud of this wonderful achievement. It’s an incredible endorsement of the quality of UK science.”

Chief Executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council and a particle physicist himself, Professor John Womersley, said: “I’m extremely proud that this huge honor has been given to Peter Higgs and Francois Englert for their work in predicting the existence of the Higgs boson. Today is a celebration of their genius, and it’s something everyone in the UK can share in. It took several decades and the construction of the world’s largest science experiment to prove them right — and that investment didn’t just teach us something new about the universe, it transformed our everyday lives. Particle physics has brought us the World Wide Web, touch screens, superconducting magnets and medical imaging detectors, and it’s an area of science where the UK is world-leading. STFC congratulates the winners of this well-deserved award, together with all of the scientists, engineers and industry partners involved in the world-wide collaborations that confirmed that their insight was correct.”

Many people and organizations have made the discovery of the Higgs boson possible. This is a triumph for CERN and for UK universities, particularly the University of Edinburgh where Professor Higgs worked but also the 19 other UK research groups involved in the discovery.

The UK’s share of the CERN budget is paid for by STFC who also support UK participation in the four LHC experimental detector projects, including the Higgs boson detectors ATLAS and CMS. This investment, along with more than 200 UK nationals employed by CERN and nearly 600 UK scientists regularly working at CERN were a major contributor to the discovery of the Higgs boson last summer.

In return, in addition to the significant breakthrough of finding the Higgs boson, UK industry has been winning contracts throughout the life of the CERN project. In 2012 these contracts were worth #22 Million.

Contacts:

Lucy Stone

STFC Deputy Media Manager

+44 (0)1235 445627, cell: +44 (0)7920 870125

lucy.stone@stfc.ac.uk

 

Wendy Ellison

STFC Press Officer

+44 (0) 1925 603232, cell: +44 (0) 7919-548012

wendy.ellison@stfc.ac.uk