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R.I.P. Peter Higgs (1929-2024)

I was very sad this afternoon to hear of the death of theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, on Monday 8th April 2024, at the age of 94. I never met Peter Higgs but I know how greatly liked and respected he was (see, e.g. here) and that he leaves an important legacy as a physicist, particularly the work that led to the award of the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physics (jointly with François Englert) . Condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

You can read the very nice Guardian obituary here; there are many others published in media from elsewhere in the world (including Ireland and Barcelona).

I’ll add two extremely slight connections. One is that Peter Higgs visited Maynooth University in 2012, not long before his Nobel Prize was announced. The other is that he was born in the Elswick area of Newcastle upon Tyne, not far from Benwell, where I grew up.

This entry was posted on April 9, 2024 at 9:56 pm and is filed under Barcelona, Maynooth, R.I.P., The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

9 Responses to “R.I.P. Peter Higgs (1929-2024)”

  1. cormac Says:
    April 9, 2024 at 10:13 pm

    Sad news. I met him when he visited Maynooth. An extremely nice and modest man who had a lot to say about the modern emphasis on publications, citations and impact factors!

    Reply
  2. Francis Says:
    April 10, 2024 at 10:06 am

    Met him when he received an honorary degree here back in 2014. Very nice and modest as already noted. Indeed I’ve met a few Nobel prizewinners in my time and they have nearly all been nice.

    Reply
  3. Anton Garrett Says:
    April 10, 2024 at 2:32 pm

    To learn about the Higgs boson in full depth and wonderful clarity, read the chapter (VII.2) on Electroweak Univication in Anthony Zee’s book “Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell” (from p379 in 2nd edition – not a small nutshell!)

    RIP Peter Higgs indeed.

    Reply
  4. Shantanu Says:
    April 11, 2024 at 5:54 am

    Peter, about two years Ben Mottleson (1975 nobel prize winner in theoretical nuclear Physics) and there is not a single obituary of him on social media, blogosphere and even in general press. Is it that no one cares about Nuclear Physics.

    Also something not mentioned/known is that Peter Higgs also worked in GR and was part of Bondi’s GR group at King’s College in 1950s.

    Reply
    • telescoper Says:
      April 11, 2024 at 3:15 pm

      I just googled Ben Mottelson and found obituaries in the New York Times, Washington Post and others.

      Reply

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