Engineers celebrate UK Nobel Prize for the Higgs particle
10/10/2013 Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Nearly fifty years after it was first theorised and twenty years after the experiment that helped to find it was first sketched out on a napkin, the Higgs Boson has helped win the UK its 120th Nobel Prize. The 2013 Nobel Prize for Physics has gone to Peter Higgs and François Englert for their prediction of the existence of the Higgs in the 1960s. The hugely sought after particle was discovered in 2012 with the Large Hadron Collider amidst a wave of public excitement.Finding the Higgs Boson marked a significant breakthrough in our understanding of the fundamental laws that govern the Universe. The result would not have been possible without the huge contribution made by the thousands of engineers who helped made the Large Hadron Collider possible.
The University of Edinburgh's Professor Peter Higgs won the Nobel Prize, for
the theory he developed in 1964 that fundamental particles have mass due to their interaction with a Higgs field. François Englert, Professor Emeritus at the Université Libre de Bruxelles has also been named on the prize.
Science and Universities Minister David Willetts said: "I congratulate Professor Peter Higgs on his Nobel Prize. Higgs' contribution to scientific discovery in the UK is enormous. Our Nobel Laureate thoroughly deserves this prestigious award."
"We should also celebrate the efforts of the thousands of scientists and engineers all over the world who have worked on the Large Hadron Collider and the long search for the Higgs Boson."
"This is the 23rd Nobel Prize for Physics to come to the UK - we should all be very proud of this wonderful achievement. It's an incredible endorsement of the quality of UK science".
We build particle accelerators to push the boundaries of our understanding of the known Universe, but building them relies on cutting-edge engineering. Building and maintaining the facilities at CERN is a team of engineers and technicians that outnumbers the research scientists by ten to one.
Civil engineers were needed to dig the tunnels and install the large infrastructure projects - among other things, the LHC makes use of the world's largest cryogenic, or cooling system. Engineers and technicians have to assemble the accelerator components with fine precision. There are kilometres of wiring, and thousands of electrical components - designed, built and tested separately before being brought together at CERN. And then there are the repairs and upgrades needed to keep the whole system running smoothly. Engineers, and engineering, play a crucial role at CERN.
Chief Executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, Professor John Womersley, said: "This is a huge honour for Professor Peter Higgs and François Englert for their work in predicting the existence of the Higgs boson. Today we celebrate their genius - and also the hard work of the thousands of scientists involved in the world-wide collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider as well as the engineers and our industry partners who have made this colossal machine possible. The complexity of the engineering and cutting edge technology required for a machine which enables two beams of high energy particles to be accelerated to near the speed of light and then collided should not be underestimated. Today's Nobel Prize for Physics can be enjoyed by all of those who have made their own contribution to this incredible achievement; my congratulations goes to all of them".
Many people and organisations have made the discovery of the Higgs Boson possible. This is a triumph for CERN and for UK universities, particularly the University of Edinburgh where Professor Higgs worked, but also the 19 other UK research groups involved in the discovery.
The UK's share of the CERN budget is paid for by STFC who also support UK participation in the four LHC experimental detector projects, including the Higgs Boson detectors ATLAS and CMS. This investment, along with more than 200 UK nationals employed by CERN and nearly 600 UK scientists regularly working at CERN were a major contributor to the discovery of the Higgs Boson last summer.
In return, in addition to the significant breakthrough of finding the Higgs Boson, UK industry has been winning contracts throughout the life of the CERN project. In 2012 these contracts were worth £22 Million.
For more information, please visit: www.stfc.ac.uk
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