Peter Higgs wins eminent award

Professor Peter Higgs has been awarded the world’s oldest scientific prize, the Royal Society’s Copley Medal.

The award has been made for the Professor’s work on the theory of the Higgs boson, a fundamental physical particle.

The particle was discovered in experiments at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in 2012.

Prof Higgs was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics 2013 for his research.

Highly ranked peers

"It is an honour to be the recipient this year of the Copley Medal, the Royal Society’s premier award." Professor Peter Higgs, School of Physics & Astronomy

The Copley medal was first awarded by the Royal Society in 1731.

Previous winners include Charles Darwin, Humphrey Davey and Albert Einstein.

It is awarded for outstanding achievements in scientific research.

In recent times it has been awarded to eminent scientists such as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, DNA fingerprinting pioneer Alec Jeffreys and discoverer of graphene Andre Geim.

"Peter Higgs is a most deserving winner of the Copley Medal. I congratulate him. His work, alongside that of Francois Englert, has helped shape our fundamental understanding of the world around us. The search for the Higgs boson completely ignited the public’s imagination, hopefully inspiring the next generation of scientists. The Copley Medal is the highest honour the Royal Society can give a scientist and Peter Higgs joins the ranks of the world’s greatest ever scientists." Professor Sir Paul Nurse, President, The Royal Society