Berkeley Lab’s Prominent Role in the Higgs Discovery

The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics to François Englert and Peter Higgs cites not only their theoretical discovery but its confirmation "through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider." - "The prediction and subsequent discovery of the Higgs boson is a fascinating chapter in the history of science, and a powerful testament to human imagination, innovation, perseverance, and international cooperation," says Natalie Roe, Director of the Physics Division at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). "The Nobel prize for Englert and Higgs is well deserved, and a wonderful way to celebrate this incredible scientific journey." U.S. scientists contributed to the underlying theory, and also provide substantial ongoing support to the Large Hadron Collider and especially the experiments that made the Higgs discovery, including a third of the CMS Collaboration and almost a fourth of the ATLAS Collaboration. One of the largest groups in the U.S. ATLAS contingent, with more than 40 active members, comes from Berkeley Lab and is led by Ian Hinchliffe. It includes students, postdocs, UC faculty, and Berkeley Lab staff. "We're delighted that the Nobel Prize Committee has recognized this important work and recognized the critical role of the experiments in confirming the fine predictions by Englert and Higgs and their colleagues," says Hinchliffe.