Peter Higgs Quotes

• Nobody else took what I was doing seriously, so nobody would want to work with me. I was thought to be a bit eccentric and maybe cranky.

  Peter Higgs

  Want, Eccentric, Cranky

  " Father of 'the God particle' Peter Higgs says fame is a bit of a nuisance" by Peter Higgs, www.theguardian.com. February 17, 2014.

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• I never expected this to happen in my lifetime and shall be asking my family to put some champagne in the fridge.

  Peter Higgs

  Asking, Lifetime, My Family

  "Higgs boson: it's unofficial! Cern scientists discover missing particle" by Ian Sample, www.theguardian.com. July 4, 2012.

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• When you look at a vacuum in a quantum theory of fields, it isn't exactly nothing.

  Peter Higgs

  Vacuums, Looks, Fields

  "Meet Peter Higgs". Videoby CERN, videos.cern.ch. July 1, 2004.

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• This summer I have discovered something totally useless.

  Peter Higgs

  Summer, Useless

  "The Hunt for the Higgs Boson". Science Scotland, issue no. 3, www.sciencescotland.org. Winter 2004.

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• There is a sort of mythology that grows up about what happened, which is different from what really did happen.

  Peter Higgs

  Growing Up, Different, Mythology

  "Peter Higgs: the man behind the boson". Physics World, July 10, 2004.

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• I was an embarrassment to the department when they did research assessment exercises. A message would go round the department: 'Please give a list of your recent publications.' And I would send back a statement: 'None.'

  Peter Higgs

  Exercise, Assessment, Giving

  "Peter Higgs interview: 'I have this kind of underlying incompetence'" by Decca Aitkenhead, www.theguardian.com. December 6, 2013.

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• That name was a kind of joke, and not a very good one. An author, Leon Lederman, wanted to call it 'that goddamn particle' because it was clear it was going to be a tough job finding it experimentally. His editor wouldn't have that, and he said 'okay, call it the God particle', and the editor accepted it. I don't think he should've have done, because it's so misleading.

  Peter Higgs

  Jobs, Thinking, Editors

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• The way that the background fields generates mass is rather like the way in which when light passes through a transparent medium like glass or water, it gets slowed down. It no longer travels with the fundamental velocity of light c. And that's the way to think of the generation of mass.

  Peter Higgs

  Thinking, Glasses, Light

  "Meet Peter Higgs". CERN Video, July 2004.

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• Fundamentalism is another problem. I mean, Dawkins in a way is almost a fundamentalist himself, of another kind.

  Peter Higgs

  Mean, Way, Kind

  "Atheist Physicist Denounces 'God Particle' Nickname for Higgs Boson" by Jeff Schapiro, www.christianpost.com. April 8, 2013.

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• The model I came up with in 1964 is just the invention of a rather strange sort of medium that looks the same in all directions and produces a kind of refraction that is a little bit more complicated than that of light in glass or water.

  Peter Higgs

  Glasses, Light, Water

  "Peter Higgs' Big Day". Interview with Jessica Griggs, www.slate.com. July 29, 2012.

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• My recollection of the higher school certificate, which involved a practical exam in physics, was being confronted with an experiment involving a sort of barometer arrangement, wondering why I couldn't make it work.

  Peter Higgs

  School, Wonder, Physics

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• If the U.K. were threatening to withdraw from Europe, I would certainly want Scotland to be out of that.

  Peter Higgs

  Europe, Scotland, Want

  "Peter Higgs: I wouldn't be productive enough for today's academic system" by Decca Aitkenhead, www.theguardian.com. December 06, 2013.

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• I would send back a statement: ‘None.’

  Peter Higgs

  Statements

  "Peter Higgs: I wouldn't be productive enough for today's academic system" by Decca Aitkenhead, www.theguardian.com. December 6, 2013.

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