What is the Higgs boson and why it’s called “The God Particle”: Peter Higgs.

Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN made a significant discovery in 2012: the Higgs boson particle, theorized by Peter Higgs in 1964. Higgs’ groundbreaking work explained the mechanism behind how particles acquire mass and was validated when the particle was detected at the Large Hadron Collider, affirming his theory. The following year, Peter Higgs was honored with the Nobel Prize for this achievement. According to the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN), particles in the early universe existed without mass and moved at the speed of light.

The emergence of planets, stars, and life came about when particles obtained mass from the Higgs boson’s associated field, a fundamental force-carrying particle pivotal in explaining the mass of all matter in the universe. The Higgs boson, often referred to as the “God Particle,” owes its name to American physicist Leon Lederman, who initially termed it the “Goddamn Particle” out of frustration with its elusive detection. Born in the UK, Peter Higgs studied at King’s College in London and taught at the University of Edinburgh for decades. Dubbed a modest man, he was averse to the sudden fame brought by his work and was particularly uncomfortable with the term “Higgs boson” and the moniker “God particle.”

The name, however, persisted as it underscores the particle’s significance in giving mass to all other particles and the existence of the world as we know it.