It was announced on Monday in Stockholm, Sweden that Doctors Francois Englert and Peter Higgs have been awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for their part in discovering the Higgs Boson particle. The Higgs boson is also referred to as the “God Particle” as many believe it will help to explain how small particles first obtained mass after the Big Bang. The two doctors will share the prize of 8 million Swedish Krona ($1.2 million USD). The two doctors, both professors at the Free University in Brussels, have been working in the area since writing a paper on the subject in 1964.

Higgs Boson

The Higgs boson particle is named after Higgs who predicted the existence of the particle back in 1964. Englert and Robert Brout contest that they discovered it by publishing a similar paper just weeks prior to Higgs. However, they did not draw all of the same conclusions as Higgs would in his University of Edinburgh paper. Englert and Brout would contest that the conclusions were implied in the paper even if not stated directly. The paper showed the principles behind an invisible force field that gives the small particles mass. Higgs published a statement saying, “I am overwhelmed to receive this award and thank the Royal Swedish Academy.” He continued on to thank all those that had helped him along the way and those that contributed to the discovery of the particle. His hope is that the discovery will help to spark the imagination of young people and continue the growth of science amongst future generations. Englert had similar feelings and was extremely pleased to be recognized for his contributions to the field of study.

The Discovery

CERN announced back in July that they had found a particle that was consistent with that described by Higgs in his published work. Although tests are ongoing with the Large Hadron Collider, it was not been undeniably proved that this is the Higgs boson. That being said, researchers at CERN do believe that it is becoming increasingly likely that this is a Higgs boson particle in one way. Different forms of the particle are believed to exist and while researchers do not doubt that they have found a Higgs boson, it is simly unclear at this point in time which they have found.

The Award

It was largely expected that the Nobel prize would go to someone related to the discovery of the Higgs boson, however it was unknown who exactly would receive it. There are at least six physicists who played a large role in the discovery of the particle. Those six physicists come in addition to the thousands of researchers at CERN who played a vital role in actually finding the particle. The prize cannot be awarded to more than three people and can only be given to living people. Brout passed away in 2011. Higgs has always downplayed his involvement and instead of taking the praise from the world, passed along much of the praise to the others that had been working on the project.