• WhatsOn Museums

Professor Peter Higgs ‘in conversation’ at Life

@ Life Science Centre

Book Now

A rare opportunity to hear one of the giants of modern science – Nobel Prize winning Professor, Peter Higgs. Peter will be in conversation with science writer and commentator Graham Farmelo.

Professor Peter Higgs, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 2013, is one of the giants of modern science. Born in Elswick, he was awarded the Freedom of the City of Newcastle in 2014.

This November, he comes to Life for what promises to be a unique and entertaining evening, when he will be sharing stories about his extraordinary career including the ground-breaking discovery of the Higgs particle.

Peter Higgs predicted the existence of this elusive fundamental particle while working at Edinburgh University in 1964. The Higgs particle gives mass to the most basic particles of matter. Crucially, it completed the Standard Model of sub-atomic forces, perhaps the greatest scientific achievement in the past century.

But until its discovery at Cern’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the particle had proved impossible to track down. The LHC, the biggest physics project ever, was built to probe the origins of the universe and discovering the Higgs particle was a key priority. In July 2012, physicists at Cern announced the discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson, ending an incredible international search that started with Peter Higgs almost 50 years earlier.

This event at Life will appeal to anyone with an interest in game-changing science or a curiosity in amazing people. A knowledge of sub-atomic physics in not needed.

Peter will be interviewed by Graham Farmelo, who will start the evening with an informal scene-setting talk: beginning with atoms and ending with the discovery of the Higgs particle.

Graham is an award-winning science writer and biographer. Formerly an academic, museum professional and undercover restaurant critic, he is now a writer, speaker and consultant in science communication. Graham’s books include ‘The Strangest Man’, which won the Costa Prize for biography. For more information visit www.grahamfarmelo.com

For ages 14+

Image credit: University of Edinburgh

---