Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, paid tribute to physicist Peter Higgs, renowned for proposing the existence of the Higgs Boson particle, describing him as a “smart human.” In a post on X.com, Musk expressed admiration for Higgs’ intellect and contributions to physics.
Peter Higgs, a Nobel laureate physicist acclaimed for his theory elucidating how elementary particles acquire mass, passed away at the age of 94 on Monday after a brief illness, as announced by Edinburgh University, UK. Higgs was hailed as a “truly gifted scientist” whose groundbreaking vision enriched humanity’s understanding of the universe.
In 1964, while serving as a lecturer at Edinburgh University, Higgs first posited the existence of a novel particle, later confirmed in 2012 by researchers at CERN, Switzerland’s European Organization for Nuclear Research, and named the Higgs Boson in his honor. His theory introduced the concept of a pervasive field in the universe, with the associated Higgs particle endowing mass to other particles, a pivotal revelation following the cosmic Big Bang.
“His name will be remembered as long as we engage in physics, embodied by the Higgs Boson,” remarked Brian Cox, Professor of particle physics at the University of Manchester, UK, in a tribute on X.