Renowned Particle Physicist Francois Englert Dies in Belgium aged 93

Belgian theoretical physicist Francois Englert, who jointly won the 2013 Nobel Prize, has died at ninety-three in Uccle. The announcement of his death was made on Facebook by CERN, the Swiss-based research organization. Englert spent over seven decades conducting scientific research, contributing significantly to our understanding of the universe.

After initially studying civil engineering, Englert decided to pursue a doctorate in theoretical physics. After graduating, he traveled to the United States and joined Cornell University, where he met Robert Brout. The two scientists later returned to Belgium, where they co-headed the theoretical physics department in Brussels. Together, they laid the theoretical foundations for a mechanism that would explain particle mass.

In 1964, Englert and Brout published their groundbreaking theory regarding how elementary particles acquire mass. They proposed that these particles become heavy by interacting with an invisible, universal field. Independently, British physicist Peter Higgs proposed a similar mechanism, which led to the hypothetical particle being named the Higgs boson.

This theoretical mechanism was finally confirmed in 2012 at CERN through the ATLAS and CMS experiments. Although Robert Brout died before he could witness the discovery, Englert and Peter Higgs were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2013. Peter Higgs later died in the year 2024.

Englert was born to Jewish shopkeepers in Etterbeek, Brussels, on November 6, 1932. When Nazi Germany occupied Belgium during World War II, Englert and his family survived by living in hiding. This difficult childhood contributed to his nonconformist nature and his rejection of religion. He later stated that his scientific career was driven by a constant search for rational intelligibility in our world.