Higgs Boson

How a man from 1964 predicted the existence of the “God particle”, and why it took us 50 years to prove him right.  

​In 1964, a young man named Peter Higgs published a scientific paper, hoping that it would solve one of the biggest dilemmas of the scientific community. His paper received attention from world-class scientists. This is because physics had a problem.

​Physicists back then were building up a mathematical framework that described four fundamental forces in our universe. This includes: Gravitational, Electromagnetic, Strong force and Weak force. This mathematical concept relies on something called symmetry (when fundamental laws remain unchanged, although a change is made), much like how the physics equations can be used anywhere or any time in the universe and still function the same way, but in a more complex manner.​

However, there was a problem with this mathematical framework when used in particle physics. Mathematics said that these fundamental particles, such as electrons, could only take part in these four forces, specifically Weak forces when they travel at the speed of light or in other words, they have to be massless to be able to achieve this. The math equation just wouldn’t work if there were a number for mass instead of 0.

​We know this cannot be true. Since electrons do have a mass and they do not travel at the speed of light, this has already been experimentally proven by J.J. Thomson, through using principles of mass spectrometry. So scientists are left with two options that cannot coherently exist together:

1. Keep the use of symmetry, but particles have to be massless – this universe doesn’t exist.

2. Add mass of the particles to the mathematical framework– this will cause symmetry to collapse and it wouldn’t work mathematically.

This is really important and matters a lot in physics since if fundamental particles in our world were to be massless, we simply wouldn't exist. There will be no atoms, no chemistry, and so no life. This is the approach where the mathematics behind describes such a perfect universe, but nothing could exist here.

So what is this invisible mechanism or system that solves this paradox?

​In that very scientific paper, Higgs proposed a theoretical resolution to this puzzle. He suggested that perhaps having a mass might not be an intrinsic property or something that fundamental particles are not “born with” from the start. However, these suggestions require almost a re-interpretation of something humans thought was more simple than it is. The Vacuum.  Higgs suggested that the vacuum is not actually empty but consists of a weird mechanism or field that allows these particles to somehow gain mass. We call it the “Higgs’ field”.

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Now, in modern physics, we already have a clue that the vacuum is not entirely empty. To completely understand Higgs’ theory of what is called the Higgs’ field, we must understand that in reality:

1. We imagine reality as fields. Fields are like a medium that exists everywhere and at all times.

2. Fundamental particles are not in the form of a spherical ball but rather an excitation in a field – we can imagine a field as a water surface and a particle as a ripple in a field.

3. Each fundamental particle has a corresponding field. For example, the electron comes from the ripple of an electron field or the photon (particle of light) comes from the ripple of the electromagnetic field.

​These fields exist in the vacuum with the lowest energy state since the vacuum has no particles in it or in other words, they can fluctuate and are not constant. However, the Higgs field that Peter Higgs suggested  is different. The Higgs field is predicted to be the universal constant background medium. Even in vacuum, it is still in a non zero value state or a constant, unlike other fields. That is why the Higgs field was believed to be quite a radical idea.

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Higgs’ theory, however, although believed to be a quite radical idea of redefining the vacuum, was used to stabilise other big existing theories like the Standard Model shown earlier (periodic table for fundamental particles that is backed by multiple of fields, corresponding to each particles in the Standard Model), acting like a foundation, relying on mathematics that this concept exists so that particles can have a mass and symmetry could still work. For the four decades that follow, new equations and discoveries in physics keep piling up, but the foundation theory of the Higgs field remains unproven. If this paradox cannot be solved, everything that we discover after that and build on this Higgs theory could as well be pointless or unreliable. 

​But physics wasn’t the only thing that evolved over these 5 decades, technology is too. As a result, we made one of the biggest decisions dedicated to science ever. And now this dedication lies beneath the border between France and Switzerland, a gigantic ring-shaped tube with a circumference of 27 km marks the contribution of physicists, engineers and scientists around the world to finally prove a man’s theory. The most powerful particle accelerator in the world, the Large Hadron Collider.

Led by CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research), mankind conducts the largest scientific experiments ever made. As the name suggests, the Large Hadron Collider is a giant machine that collides hadrons (such as protons) together. But how will colliding hadrons help us prove the existence of an invisible mechanism that is believed to be in the vacuum of space?

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Well, this brings us back to one of the most famous equations in physics, Einstein’s  E=mc2 Physicists believe that if there were to be an invisible field that gave mass to particles within the vacuum, we could “excite” it. Metaphorically, we can look at this field as a water surface that always exists all around us. With enough energy, we can create ripples in this field, and that ripple is the particle. Obviously, there will be excitation in other existing fields as well like electromagnetic or electron fields. However, we are trying to find that single ripple from the Higgs field. A field that we don’t even know if it exists.

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With this concept, thousands and thousands of protons collide every second to create a state with a gigantic amount of energy that could perhaps create this ripple effect on this Higgs field and detect the ripple, which is the particle matching with that Higgs field.

​And in 2012, 48 years after Peter Higgs’ prediction, we found it. The “God particle”, the Higgs Boson.

​The existence of this Higgs Boson particle that was detected, confirmed the existence of what is now called the Higgs field or the Higgs mechanism. And now, we know that fundamental particles can have a mass, while symmetry and mathematics of the four forces remain working. Imagine a famous celebrity walks into a party, and suddenly the crowd clusters around them. On the other hand, if an ordinary person walks in instead, perhaps a few close friends of that person will surround them. This famous analogy demonstrates how particles interact with the Higgs field and the degree of interaction that determines the magnitude of their mass, solving the forever problem in physics.

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Finally In 2012, the discovery of the Higgs boson was announced at CERN, filled with emotions and pride in humanity, with all the attention that goes to the man who is sitting quietly in the crowd. Peter Higgs, 83 years of age, is having an emotional moment because he did not just predict the existence of a “god particle”. He predicted the architecture of the universe. 

References:

CERN (n.d.) The Large Hadron Collider. Available at: https://home.cern/science/accelerators/large-hadron-collider (Accessed: December 2025) 

ATLAS (2022) ATLAS gives new insight into the internal structure of the proton. Available at: https://atlas.cern/updates/briefing/insight-proton-structure (Accessed: December 2025)

Ars Technica (2019) How Does the Large Hadron Collider Work? Available at:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWpy0SAAI6E (Accessed: December 2025) 

TED-Ed (2014) How does an atom-smashing particle accelerator work? Available at: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6mmIzRz_f8 (Accessed: December 2025) 

Cleo Abram (2025) What’s Really Happening At CERN. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCmwCkNY85g&t=91s (Accessed: January 2026) 

Veritasium (2014) Your Mass is NOT From the Higgs Boson. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztc6QPNUqls (Accessed: January 2026) 

Veritasium (2013) What Now For The Higgs Boson. Available at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=649iUqrOKuE (Accessed: January 2026) 

McMaster University (n.d.) The Higgs Boson. Available at: https://physics.mcmaster.ca/ElementaryParticle/home/the-higgs (Accessed: February 2026) 

SCI AM (2008) Sidebar: Hidden Symmetry That Shapes Our World. Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hidden-symmetry-that-shapes-our-world/?utm_source (Accessed: February 2026)