Inspirational Highland Scenery & the Higgs Boson

It was in 1964 while hiking through the Cairngorms in the north of Scotland that epiphany struck Professor Peter Higgs. It was here that the existence of the Higgs Boson or 'God Particle' was first conceived of - A theory which purported to explain how everything in the universe obtains it's mass.

Inspiration-struck he raced back to his room in one of the nearby Ballater hotels to scrawl down his idea that would one day lead to the construction of the £2.6 billion Large Hadron Collider.

It was while gazing at the wonderful Aberdeenshire scenery that Professor Higgs stared through the levels of the sub-atomic chain. From atoms, protons and neutrons that aren't fundamental, but are made up of smaller components, electrons and quarks. His theory was that if there is a final link in the chain then the fundamental sub-atomic elements must have obtained their mass from somewhere. Higgs theorised that they must be provided with mass from occasionally coming into contact with his special particle – the Higgs Boson.

It was during the mid-1990's that Peter Higgs finally published his theory while a professor at Edinburgh University. However, it would take until 2008 for the construction of the Large Hadron Collider to be completed and his vision to be realised. The collider works by attempting to re-create conditions of the 'Big Bang'-period, by smashing certain types of particles into one another. However, the Higgs Boson is incredibly rare – only ten out of every billion proton collisions are expected to yield a Higgs Boson, which once created will begin to decay instantaneously. However, it's said that the experiments at CERN, while not yet finding the particle, have gathered large amounts of data revealing tantalising hints that it does at least exist.

Professor Higgs is back at his old patch this week to collect the prestigious Edinburgh Award, for his outstanding contributions made to the city. From there he is due to continue north for a talk on his work at hotels in Perthshire and Aberdeen. It's unknown, however if Professor Higgs, now in his 80's will stop off on his tour in the nearby Cairngorms, where it all started. What more inspiration can be found in the peaceful grandeur of Aberdeenshire's stunning scenery? We might have to wait for the next generation of physicists to find out what lies beyond Higgs vision.