Physicist François Englert, Key to Higgs Boson, Dies

Belgian physicist François Englert, a Nobel laureate whose theories were crucial to the discovery of the Higgs boson, died on Thursday in Uccle, Belgium. He was 93. Englert, along with Peter Higgs, developed the theoretical framework for the Higgs field in the 1960s. This field is fundamental to the Standard Model of particle physics, explaining how subatomic particles acquire mass. Their work addressed a long-standing problem in physics concerning the mass of W and Z bosons, which are involved in the weak force. The Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism, as it is sometimes fully known, proposed the existence of a pervasive field that interacts with particles, imparting mass. This theory proved instrumental in the 2012 detection of the Higgs boson at CERN, confirming the existence of the field. Englert and Higgs were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013 for their profound contribution to understanding the origin of mass in subatomic particles. Englert's early life was marked by his family's persecution during the German invasion of Belgium, forcing them into hiding to survive the Holocaust. He pursued his education in electromechanical engineering and physics at the Free University of Brussels before his impactful research career. He was later made a baron by King Albert II of Belgium in 2013.