Gerald Guralnik
Higgs Boson Particle Theorist
Quick Facts:
Place of Birth
Cedar Falls, Iowa
Education
Bachelors of Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 1955
Doctorate from Harvard 1964
Date of Birth and Death
Birth: September 17, 1936
Death: April 26, 2014
Major Contribution to Physics
Gerald Guralnik helped create the theory that would lead to the discovery of the Higgs boson particle, which confirmed beliefs about why some particles had mass and others didn’t.
The Importance of his Theory
Gerald Guralnik was one of six other physicists who created the Higgs theory in 1964 that would lead to the discovery of the Higgs boson particle in 2012. The particle is also known as the “God Particle” and is thought to be responsible for all mass in the universe. Guralnik helped physicists realize there was a problem with the standard model of the universe because it had no way of showing how particles get mass. The Higgs boson particles make up an energy field that has other particles moving in it. Those particles are attracted to the Higgs bosons in different numbers giving those particles mass and changing their speeds. It was Guralnik and his fellow scientists’ idea that the standard model needed to be changed to include such a particle, that helped begin the research and change the model of the universe.
(To the left are five of the six scientists including Guralnik. The remaining scientist died before the 2012 discovery)
Sources
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/13/world/europe/higgs-boson-q-and-a/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/us/gerald-guralnik-77-a-god-particle-pioneer-dies.html?_r=0
http://www.science.tamu.edu/news/story.php?story_ID=911
http://www.livescience.com/17431-higgs-boson-god-particle-infographic.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_PRL_symmetry_breaking_papers