World's Oldest Science Prize For Professor Peter Higgs

Photo by Graham Clark

Professor Peter Higgs has been awarded what is believed to be the world's oldest scientific prize.

Already a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, the 86-year-old's achievements have now been recognised by receiving the Royal Society's Copley Medal.

He has been given the prestigious award for his contribution to particle physics, with his theory explaining the origin of mass in elementary particles.

Previous recipients of the Copley Medal include Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein.

Prof Higgs and Professor Francois Englert won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2013 for independently discovering a mechanism that enables elementary particles to acquire mass.

The scientist was thrust into the limelight in 2012 after the elusive particle that bears his name was found by scientists at the Large Hadron Collider, near Geneva, the huge atom-smashing machine built to probe the origins of the universe.

He predicted the existence of the particle while working at Edinburgh University in 1964. But until the momentous discovery three years ago it had proved impossible to track down.

He has won various awards since and said it was an honour'' to receive the Royal Society'spremier award''.

The Copley Medal was first awarded by the Royal Society in 1731 - 170 years before the first Nobel Prize.

It is awarded for outstanding achievements in scientific research and has most recently been awarded to scientists such as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, DNA fingerprinting pioneer Alec Jeffreys and Andre Geim, for his discovery of graphene.