Double Nobel Prize success in NMS

The Department of Physics is celebrating a double win today, as Peter Higgs was announced as the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics and Michael Levitt for Chemistry. Both studied Physics at King's, graduating in 1950 and 1967 respectively.

Peter Higgs FRS won the Nobel Prize for Physics. Awarded jointly with Francois Englert, the prize is in recognition for the theory of how particles acquire mass. Both Higgs and Englert proposed the theory independently of each other in 1964; their theory was confirmed in 2012 with the discovery of the so-called Higgs Boson particle at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.

Professor Higgs graduated with a First class Honours in Physics from King's in 1950. In 1954, he was awarded a PhD for a thesis entitled 'Some Problems in the Theory of Molecular Vibrations'; work which signalled the start of his life-long interest in the application of the ideas of symmetry to physical systems. 

Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh since 1996, Professor Higgs returned to King's to deliver the inaugural Annual Higgs Lecture in the School of Natural & Mathematical Sciences in December 2012.

Professor Michael Levitt FRS studied for a Bachelor of Science degree at King's, graduating in 1967. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry jointly with Martin Karplus and Arieh Warshel, for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems. 

After graduating from King's, Professor Levitt went on to gain a PhD from Cambridge University in 1971. He has since worked as the Robert W. and Vivian K. Cahill Professor in Cancer Research, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford.