Physicist Peter Higgs, Discoverer of ‘God Particle’, Passes Away at 94

British physicist Peter Higgs, renowned for his ground-breaking theoretical work explaining how the Universe has mass, has passed away at the age of 94. The University of Edinburgh, where he was a professor for nearly five decades, announced his peaceful passing at home on Monday 8 April after a brief illness. The university praised him as “a great teacher and mentor” who has inspired countless young scientists and requested privacy for his family during this time. Higgs’ 1964 theory of a mass-giving particle, later known as the Higgs boson or the “God particle”, earned him the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physics along with Belgian physicist Francois Englert.

This theory resolved a major physics puzzle and solidified Higgs’ place in scientific textbooks alongside the likes of Albert Einstein and Max Planck. The confirmation of this theory came from experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, nearly fifty years after the initial proposal. Peter Mathieson, Vice Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, described Higgs as a “remarkable individual” and “truly gifted scientist” whose work has enriched our understanding of the world. He highlighted Higgs’ legacy, stating that it will continue to inspire scientists for many generations to come.