Physicist Peter Higgs, Nobel winner for the “God particle” theory, dies

The British scientist Peter Higgswinner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013 for his theory of the Higgs boson, known as the “God particle” and considered the key to the structure of matter, died on Monday at the age of 94.

“He died peacefully at home on Monday, April 8 after a short illness,” the University of Edinburgh announced in a statement on Tuesday.

The physicist was the author in 1964 of the boson theory that later bore his name and whose practical demonstration took almost half a century.

The university, where Higgs served as an academic for four decades, called him “a great teacher and mentor, who inspired generations of young scientists.”

“His family has asked the media and the public to respect his privacy at this time,” he added.

Higgs received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013 together with the Belgian François Englert for their work in 1964 to lay the theoretical foundations that led decades later to the identification of the boson in 2012 at the European laboratory for nuclear research, CERN, located in Switzerland. .

The Higgs boson is a key element of the fundamental structure of matter that gives its mass to all others, according to the theory known as the “standard model.”

In efforts to disseminate this theory to a broader public, it was dubbed the “God particle,” since it is everywhere and at the same time elusive.