Nobel Prize in Physics 2013
On October 10, 2013, researchers Peter Higgs and François Englert were awarded with the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics for their prediction of a new elementary particle with special properties – the so-called Higgs boson. The particle physicists at RWTH Aachen are delighted and congratulate the laureates for this recognition of their work.
After decades of search for the elusive particle at the European Research Center CERN in Geneva, the Higgs boson was discovered in 2012. It is considered a key to explain why the most basic building blocks of the universe have mass.
Researchers from RWTH Aachen have played a major role the recent discovery of the particle and the determination of its characteristics. The working groups of the RWTH Physics Institutes IB and IIA/B have contributed to planning the projects and developing the necessary technologies, and they have assembled parts of the high-resolution silicon strip detector and muon chambers here in Aachen. Furthermore, the researchers participated in the analysis of the measuring results. A part of the calculations required for the discovery of the particle and the determination of its properties were carried out at the Institute of Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology.
As Professor Michael Krämer, Head of the Department of Theoretical Physics E, explains, “Our departments’ traditionally close collaboration between theory and experiment will make it possible for us to better understand the nature of the Higgs boson in the next few years. In this way we have a chance to unravel the remaining secrets of the microcosm.”