Peter Ware Higgs (1929-2024)

Peter Ware Higgs passed away peacefully at home following a short illness on 8th April 2024. Peter was born on 29th May 1929 in Newcastle. He studied Theoretical Physics at Kings College London and gained his PhD in 1954. He was appointed Lecturer in Mathematical Physics at the University of Edinburgh in 1960 and became Professor of Theoretical Physics in 1980. In 1964 he published a paper proposing a mechanism for how particles acquire mass. Key to this mechanism was a particle that subsequently became known as the Higgs Boson. Some 50 years later, CERN announced the discovery of this particle in 2012 and the Nobel Prize for Physics was jointly awarded to Francois Englert and Peter Higgs in 2013. Peter was a modest man, yet he inspired generations of students and researchers at the University of Edinburgh and around the world.

The Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics was established in 2012 by the University of Edinburgh to seek answers to fundamental questions about the universe. We do this by creating opportunities for researchers and students from around the world to come together to formulate new theoretical concepts, taking us beyond the limitations of current paradigms.

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