Q 01/05

The particle Higgs predicted was finally discovered at CERN in which year?

A) 2006

B) 2008

C) 2010

D) 2012

Answer · why

D) 2012

He proposed the mechanism in 1964 and waited 48 years for the discovery.

Q 02/05

Higgs shared the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics with which Belgian physicist?

A) Robert Brout

B) Tom Kibble

C) François Englert

D) Gerald Guralnik

Answer · why

C) François Englert

Brout, Englert's co-author, had died in 2011; Nobels are not awarded posthumously.

Q 03/05

Higgs spent most of his career as a professor at which university?

A) Cambridge

B) Edinburgh

C) Glasgow

D) Bristol

Answer · why

B) Edinburgh

He fell for the city while hitchhiking to the Western Highlands as a student in 1949 and returned as a lecturer in 1960.

Q 04/05

Higgs was born in 1929 in which English city?

A) Kingston upon Hull

B) Stockton-on-Tees

C) Berwick-upon-Tweed

D) Newcastle upon Tyne

Answer · why

D) Newcastle upon Tyne

He was born in the Elswick district; a brass plaque on the Newcastle Quayside now honours him.

Q 05/05

Higgs's father worked as a sound engineer for which organisation?

A) Decca Records

B) The Post Office

C) Ealing Studios

D) The BBC

Answer · why

D) The BBC

The job kept the family moving, which along with childhood asthma meant Higgs was partly taught at home.