The Higgs boson, often referred to as the "God particle," is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of
particle physics. Its existence was proposed in 1964 by physicists Peter Higgs, François Englert, and
others, as a part of the mechanism that gives mass to other elementary particles.
Key Points about the Higgs Boson:
Higgs Field:
The Higgs boson is associated with the Higgs field, an energy field that exists
throughout the universe. Particles acquire mass through their interaction with this field.
Discovery:
The Higgs boson was discovered on July 4, 2012, by scientists at CERN's Large Hadron
Collider (LHC). The discovery confirmed the mechanism proposed by the Standard Model and was a major
milestone in the field of particle physics.
Mass:
The Higgs boson itself has a mass of about 125 giga-electronvolts (GeV/c²), which is roughly
133 times the mass of a proton.
Role in the Universe:
The interaction between particles and the Higgs field explains why some
particles have mass while others, like photons, do not. Without the Higgs mechanism, fundamental particles
would remain massless, which would mean atoms—and therefore matter as we know it—could not exist.
Nobel Prize:
The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to François Englert and Peter Higgs for
their theoretical predictions of the Higgs mechanism and the subsequent discovery of the Higgs boson.