Physicist Peter Higgs died on Monday April 8, at the age of 94, the University of Edinburgh announced in a press release on Tuesday. “He passed away peacefully at his home, following a short illness,” wrote the university, of which the scientist was a long-time professor emeritus.
“Peter Higgs was a remarkable person – a truly gifted scientist whose vision and imagination enriched our knowledge of the world around us,” said Peter Mathieson, director of the University of Edinburgh, quoted in the press release. “His pioneering work motivated thousands of scientists, and his legacy will continue to inspire many more for generations to come,” he added.
Mr. Higgs received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013 with the Belgian François Englert for his work on the Higgs boson. Peter Higgs predicted the existence of a new particle in 1964. But it took nearly 50 years before its existence could be confirmed at the Large Hadron Collider in 2012.
The Higgs boson is considered by physicists to be the keystone of the fundamental structure of matter, the elementary particle which gives their mass to many others, in accordance with the so-called “Standard Model” theory. In efforts to popularize this discovery, the boson has been nicknamed the "God particle" because it is everywhere, yet particularly elusive.
