In the News

News items about Peter Higgs and Higgs research in Edinburgh

  • 20 September 2019 Peter Higgs @ 90 Birthday Celebration Meeting in the Playfair Library, Old College, South Bridge, Edinburgh.
  • 19 August 2019 To celebrate Peter Higgs @ 90 a collection of material on the discovery of the Higgs Boson  and the detection of gravitational waves is mailed to all Scottish Secondary Schools and other friends. The mailing announces the Peter Higgs @ 90 Scottish Secondary Schools Poster Competition.
  • 29 May 2019 Peter Higgs celebrates his 90th birthday at a dinner with colleagues, friends and family, hosted by the University Principal, Professor Peter Mathieson. Peter is presented with the winning cards in the Peter Higgs @ 90 Scottish Primary School Birthday Card Competition.
  • 31 October 2018 Peter Higgs visits a Fionna Carlisle exhibition 'The Art of Intelligent Ageing: Portraits of the Lothian Birth Cohort Studies' at the Fire Station, Edinburgh College of Art that features his portrait.
  • 26 September 2018 Peter Higgs meets the winners of the 2018 Scottish Government Higgs Awards at the Higgs Centre for Innovation at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh.
  • 17 August 2018 Peter Higgs and Victoria Crowe attend the Jan Van der Berg event at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
  • 15 July 2018 Peter Higgs, François Englert and Fabiola Gianotti each receive a Carla Fendi Foundation Award at the Teatro Caio Melliso, Spoleto, during the Festival of Two Worlds.
  • 25 May 2018 Peter Higgs attends the opening of the Higgs Centre for Innovation at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh.
  • 10 May 2018 Peter Higgs attends the opening at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh of the Victoria Crowe exhibition 'Beyond Likeness' which includes his portrait.
  • 7 July 2017 Peter Higgs receives the Galileo Galilei Prize from Giuseppe Nardoni of the International EDT organisation at the Royal Society Edinburgh.
  • 28 March 2017 Peter Higgs receives the Commision Medal, awarded by Royal Commision for the 1851 Exhibition, from the Princess Royal at the Armourers Hall in London.
  • 18 October 2016 Peter Higgs opens the 'Evolution of the Universe. exhibition at the Natural History Museum in Vienna.
  • September 2016 Peter Higgs' "Maxwell's Equations: the Tip of an Iceberg" published in the James Clerk Maxwell Foundation Newsletter 7 ISSN 2058-7503
  • 24 June 2016 Peter Higgs receives Honorary Degree from Trinity College Dublin.
  • January 2016 Peter Higgs becomes Honorary Patron of the James Clerk Maxwell Foundation, Edinburgh
  • 15 December 2015 Peter Higgs interviewed by BBC Radio Scotland for its 'Brainwaves' programme.
  • 9 November 2015 Peter Higgs gives a lecure at a meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh to celebrate the legacy of James Clerk Maxwell.
  • 15 October 2015 Peter Higgs receives the 2015 Copley Medal at the Royal Scociety Premier Awards Dinner.
  • 9 September 2015 Peter Higgs interviewed by Ken MacDonald of BBC TV Scotland at the Ring of Brodgar in Orkney.
  • 8 September 2015 Peter Higgs and Frank Close appear in discussion at the Kirkwall Arts Centre during the 2015 Orkney International Science Festival.
  • 20 July 2015 Peter Higgs is awarded the 2015 Copley Medal by the Royal Society of London.

  • 7 July 2015 Peter Higgs receives an Honorary Degree from Queen's University Belfast.
  • 3 March 2015 An Institute of Physics Blue Plaque is unveiled at 5-7 Roxburgh Street, Edinburgh. This is to commemorate that Peter Higgs wrote his two 1964 papers in an office on the first floor of 3 Roxburgh Street. In 1964 1-3 Roxburgh Street was the site of the Tait Institute of Mathematical Physics. 
  • 3 March 2015 Peter Higgs receives in Edinburgh an Honorary Degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
  • 8 October 2014 Peter Higgs receives the Galileo Galilei Prize.
  • 1 July 2014 Peter Higgs is invested by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as Companion of Honour at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh.
  • 28 June 2014 Peter Higgs receives the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh at a University of Edinburgh Graduation Ceremony in the McEwan Hall, Edinburgh
  • 28 June 2014 Peter Higgs also receives an Honorary Degree from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles at a University of Edinburgh Graduation Ceremony in the McEwan Hall, Edinburgh.
  • 28 June 2014 At the same ceremony Francois Englert receives an Honorary Degree from the University of Edinburgh and Tom Kibble receives a Royal Medal from the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
  • 26 June 2014 Peter Higgs receives an Honorary Degree from the University of St Andrews.
  • 22 April 2014 Peter Higgs visits Plockton Primary School during a lecture by Alan Walker 'What are you made from?' to primary school pupils from Plockton, Glenelg and Invergarry primary schools..
  • 21 April 2014 Peter Higgs gives a lecture at Plockton High School with Alan Walker and Victoria Martin to advanced highers pupils from the Highlands and Islands.
  • 20 April 2014 Peter Higgs gives a lecture with Alan Walker and Victoria Martin to a public audience in the Plockton Community Hall.
  • 9 April 2014 Peter Higgs appears at the Edinburgh Internationa Book Festival in conversation with Professor Frank Close about his work and Frank's book "The Infinity Puzzle".
  • 2 March 2014 Peter Higgs receives the Freedom of the City of Newcastle at a ceremony in the City Hall, Newcastle.
  • 11 December 2013 Peter Higgs attends the Royal Banquet during Nobel Week in Stockholm.
  • 10 December 2014 Peter Higgs receives the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics from the King of Sweden at the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Stockholm.
  • 9 December 2013 Peter Higgs and his guests attend a dinner hosted by the British Ambassador to Sweden at his residence in Stockholm.
  • 8 December 2013 Peter Higgs attends the Nobel Concert in the Concert Hall In Stockholm.
  • 8 December 2013 Peter Higgs gives his Nobel Lecture at the Aula Major in Stockholm.
  • 5 December 2013 Peter Higgs interviewed by Jin Al Kahili at the BBC Radio Studios in London for "The Life Scientific".
  • 4 December 2013 Peter Higgs gives a lengthy interview to The Guardian in London.
  • 4 December 2013 Peter Higgs attenda a lunch for British Nobel Laureates at the Swedish Ambassador's residence in London.
  • 12 November 2013 Peter Higgs at the opening of the new Science Museum London exhibition 'Collider: Step Inside the World's Greatest Experiment'.
  • 5 Novmber 2013 Peter Higgs gives the annual Collingwood Lecture at the University of Durham.
  • 29 October 2013 Peter Higgs receives the 2013 Prince of Asturias Award for Science and Technology, jointly with Francois Englert and CERN represented by Director-General Rolf Heuer.
  • 16 October 2013. Peter Higgs receives an Honorary Degree from the University of Manchester.
  • 11 October 2013 Peter Higgs gives a press conference at the University of Edinburgh with Sir Tim O'Shea, Richard Kenway, Victoria Martin and Alan Walker.  At the press conference a new phase for the Higgs Centre is announced.
  • 8 October 2013: Peter Higgs is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, jointly with François Englert of Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.

  • 26 September 2013 Peter Higgs receives an Honorary Degree from La Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati di Trieste (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy.
  • 2-17 August 2013 Dutch film-maker and actor Jan van den Berg gives a one-man show 'Higgs' at Summerhall in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
  • 21-25 July 2013 Peter Higgs attends the EPSHEP 2013 Conference in Stockholm, giving a talk on 22 July.
  • 22 July 2013 Peter Higgs gives a keynote speech 'The Ancestory of a New Boson' at the 2013 EPSHEP International Conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
  • 9 July 2013 Peter Higgs receives the Freedom of the City of Bristol.
  • 28 June - 4 July 2013 Peter Higgs gives a keynote speech 'My Life as a Boson' as an invited guest at the 50th Subnuclear Physics School at Erice in Italy.
  • 26 June 2013 Peter Higgs receives an Honorary Degree from the University of Durham.
  • 20 June 2013 Peter Higgs, Alan Walker, Victoria Martin and Francisca Garay give a joint talk 'An Audience With Peter Higgs' to an audience of 1200 at the McEwan Hall Edinburgh. First release of tickets sold out.
  • 14 June 2013 A major new portrait of Peter Higgs by Victoria Crowe is unveiled at the Royal Society of Edinburgh Summer Reception. The portrait was jointly commissioned by the RSE and the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland. At the same ceremony Alan Walker receives the first RSE Pro Meritas Award in recognition of his exceptional support for the society and his major contribution to the RSE 'From Maxwell to Higgs' exhibition.
  • 6 June 2013 Peter Higgs gives a joint lecture at the Cheltenham Science Festival with Sergio Bertolucci, Director of Research and Scientific Computing at CERN and Tara Shears, Professor of Physics at the University of Liverpool. The live webcast can be found here.
  • 5 June 2013 Peter Higgs is in converstion with Dara O'Briain at the 2013 Cheltenham Science Festival.
  • 29 May 2013 As Peter Higgs celebrates his 84th birthday it is annouced thet he is to share the 2013 Prince of Asturias Award with Francois Englert and CERN.
  • 6 May 2013 Peter Higgs, Alan Walker, Christos Leonidopoulos and Conor Fitzpatrick give a joint talk 'An Audience with Peter Higgs and Colleagues' at Queen's University Belfast. The event was sold out within 24 hours of being announced on the STFC website. This talk was part of the programme of public exhibition and talks from 4-10 May 2013, centred around the visiting STFC "LHC on Tour ' exhibition. 
  • 3 May 2013 Peter Higgs, Alan Walker, Victoria Martin and Francisca Garay give a joint talk 'Four Generations of the Higgs Boson' to an audience of 450 at the National University of Ireland Maynooth College, Dublin Ireland. This was part of the Irish Quantum Foundations Conference hosted by Trinity College Dublin. The event was sold out in ninety minutes!
  • 2 May 2013 Peter Higgs, Alan Walker, Victoria Martin and Francisca Garay give a joint talk 'A Conversation with Peter Higgs and Colleagues' at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, Ireland. The event was sold out ijust a few hours hours.
  • 26 April 2013. Peter Higgs is awarded an Honorary Membership of the Saltire Society.
  • 17 April 2013 BBC TV Scotland shows the Ken MacDonald documentary 'Peter Higgs: Particle Man' on BBC Scotland. It was repeated later on the BBC News Channel.
  • 24 March 2013 Peter Higgs is awarded the Edinburgh International Science Festival Edinburgh Medal jointly with CERN. Director General Rolf Heuer received the medal on behalf of CERN.
  • 14 March 2013: New results, presented at the Moriond conferences in La Thuile, Italy, indicate that particle discovered at CERN is indeed a Higgs boson.
  • 6 February 2013 Peter Higgs is guest of honour at a joint reception in the Scottish Parliament hosted by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Science and technology Facilities Council. This was part of the programme of public exhibition and talks from 2-8 February 2013, centred around the visiting STFC 'LHC on Tour ' exhibition.
  • 5 February 2013 Peter Higgs is guest of honour at a reception hosted by the First Minister Alex Salmond at Bute House, Edinburgh.
  • 29 January 2013 Peter Higgs is appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Scottish Scociety for the Arts.
  • 26 January 2013 Peter Higgs is awarded the 2013 Nonino Prize "Man of Our Time' at a ceremony at the Nonino Distillery at Percoto, Udine Italy.
  • 29 December 2012 Peter Higgs is awarded the Companion of Honour in the New Year's Honours list 2013.

  • 17-19 December 2012 Peter Higgs visits CERN with the Principal and senior personnel from the University of Edinburgh.
  • 10 December 2012 Peter Higgs gives the first annual Higgs Lecture, entitled 'Putting Maxwell In His Place' at King's College London.
  • 7 December 2012 Peter Higgs is an invited guest at the Royal Society of Edinburgh celebration of the life of C T R Wilson, inventor of the cloud chamber.
  • 27 November 2012 Peter Higgs and Francoise Englert contribute personal recollections at the 11th Annual STOA Lecture 'Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe' in the European Parliament in Brussels.
  • 16 November 2012 Peter Higgs receives an honorary degree from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.
  • 13 November 2012 Peter Higgs delivers an invited lecture at the IZEST conference 'Laser-based High Energy Physics' at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.
  • 7 November 2012 Peter Higgs meets with new friends from the Ca l'Arenys microbrewery at El Vaso de Oro in Barcelona and tastes and approves of their Higgs Boson Ale, specially brewed as a tribute after the news from CERN on July 4.
  • 6 November 2012 Peter Higgs jointly delivers a lecture at the CosmoCaixa science centre in Barcelona. There was a live webcast and twitter feed #HiggsCosmoCaixa. A YouTube video of the lecture will be available shortly. A separate article will appear elsewhere on these pages.
  • 30 October  2012 Peter Higgs takes centre stage in a EUYSRA event 'An Audience with Peter Higgs' with a full house of 450 at the George Square Theatre, University of Edinburgh.
  • 1 October  2012 Peter Higgs is awarded a special unique medal by the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
  • 26 September 2012  The Royal Society of Edinburgh exhibition 'From Maxwell to Higgs' is opened by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.
  • 18 September 2012 Peter Higgs is an invited guest at the Ogden@10 Celebration seminar at the University of Durham. Peter receives a specially commissioned piece of hand-blown glass in the form of the Higgs 'wine-bottle' potential.
  • 22 August 2012 Peter Higgs gives lecture 'My Life as a Boson' at the 69th Scottish Universities Summer School in Physics at the University of St Andrews.
  • 13 August 2012 Peter Higgs appears with Professor Frank Close at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
  • 31 July 2012 The ATLAS and CMS experiment place the submitted papers on the discovery of the new particle on the HEP archive. ATLAS Paper  CMS Paper
  • 6 July 2012 Press Conference in Edinburgh on the discovery of the Higgs-like boson Edinburgh launches a project to set up the Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics at the University of Edinburgh.
  • See our Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics pages.
  • 4 July 2012: The ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC announce the discovery of a new particle, consistent with the Higgs Boson.

  • 2 July 2012: The CDF and DØ experiments at the Tevatron announce final results on the Higgs particle
  • 1 July 2012: ATLAS publishes results on its searches for the Higgs boson decaying into bottom quarks using data collected in 2011.  Edinburgh ATLAS team members made key contributions to this search.
  • 25 June - 2 July 2012: Professor Emeritus Peter Higgs is an invited guest at the 50th School of Subnuclear Physics 'What would we like the LHC to tell us?' in Erice, Sicily
  • 20 June 2012: Professor Emeritus Peter Higgs awarded an Honorary Degree by the University of Cambridge.
  • 15 June 2012: Professor Emeritus Peter Higgs appears with Professor Frank Close of the University of Oxford at the Borders Book Festival at Melrose, Scotland.
  • 14 June 2012: Professor Emeritus Peter Higgs gives an invited lecture to the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh.
  • 17 May 2012: Professor Emeritus Peter Higgs gives an invited lecture to an audience of 700 at the University of Bristol.
  • 16 May 2012: Professor Emeritus Peter Higgs appears with Professor Graham Farmelo at the Festival of Ideas in Bristol.
  • 16 May 2012: Professor Emeritus Peter Higgs opens the Dirac-Higgs Science Centre at his former school, Cotham School in Bristol.
  • 24th February 2012: Professor Emeritus Peter Higgs is presented with the Edinburgh Award by Lord Provost of Edinburgh.
  • 11th January 2011: BBC 2, Horizon, featuring Prof Peter Clarke and Mr Connor ​Fitzpatrick. The Hunt for the Higgs
  • 23rd December 2011: Professor Emeritus Peter Higgs is awarded the 2011 Edinburgh Award by The City of Edinburgh Council. City of Edinburgh Council announcement
  • 19th December 2011: BBC radio 4, Profile of Peter Higgs, featuring Dr Victoria Martin. Profile: Professor Peter Higgs
  • 17th December 2011: The Times, with quotes from Dr Victoria Martin and Dr Phil Clark. Professor Higgs awaits news of his boson
  • 14th December 2011: Edinburgh Evening News, article by Dr Victoria Martin.  Soon we'll be able to Pinpoint that Particle
  • ​13th December 2011: The ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN announce latest results in search for the Higgs boson.  CERN Press Release
  • 16th November 2011: Prospect Magazine: The Missing Piece, interview with Peter Higgs. The Missing Piece
  • 15th November 2011: BBC Newsnight Scotland: Homing in on the Higgs, featuring Dr Phil Clark and Ms Chiara Debenedetti.  Homing in on the Higgs
  • 12th November 2011:  Die Tageszeitung article on Higgs, featuring interviews with Prof Peter Higgs and Dr Victoria Martin Die Jagd nach dem Urteilchen (in German)

  • ​20th July 2011:  BBC Radio Scotland Interview with Dr Victoria Martin.  The Big Interview: the Boson Hunter