Two theoretical physicists who suggested that an invisible ocean of energy suffusing space is responsible for the mass and diversity of the particles in the universe won the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday morning. They are Peter Higgs, 84, of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and François Englert, 80, of the University Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.
The theory, elucidated in 1964, sent physicists on a generation-long search for the Higgs boson (also referred to as the God particle).
It had remained elusive until earlier this year when the super particle collider at CERN in Switzerland confirmed it’s existence.
(READ the story in the NY Times)