An Imperial College Physics student celebrates Higgs Prize success

An Imperial College Physics student is among the inaugural winners of the Higgs Prize for physics.

Lucy Willets-White, a first year Physics student at the college, will now visit the internationally renowned CERN facility in Switzerland to take part in its prestigious summer school.

The prize, which Lucy, formerly a pupil of Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh will share with former Madras College, St Andrews student Peter Rhodes, is awarded to two pupils that have shown outstanding performance in the Scottish Advanced Higher Physics exam.

On hearing of her success Lucy said: “The CERN Summer School is something that has always interested me and getting to go at the end of my first year as an undergraduate is a great opportunity.

"I’m really interested in particle physics and learning about it first-hand should be a real help to my studies here at the Imperial.”

The Higgs Prize for physics was established in recognition of Nobel Prize winner Professor Peter Higgs and his impact in the field of particle physics. Professor Higgs was awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics (jointly with François Englert) for his theoretical work on how particles acquire mass. This work, along with that of Imperial’s Professor Tom Kibble, paved the way for the discovery in 2012 of a so called Higgs particle at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland.

The prize, which was was presented to the winners at a ceremony in December by Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond who said: “Professor Higgs’ achievements are hugely inspiring for our young people and his commitment to encouraging our next generation of scientists is well-known. It’s very fitting that we mark his globally recognised work through the Higgs Prize.”

“For any young scholar, let alone a budding physicist, a trip to CERN is a once in a lifetime experience. As Higgs Prize winners, Lucy and Peter, who I met today, will have the fantastic opportunity to take part in internationally acclaimed CERN seminars and lectures.”

As well as recognising exceptional achievement by Scottish Advanced Higher students, the prize also aims to inspire young students to further develop their knowledge and interest in physics.

Professor Higgs said: “At my old school in Bristol, I was inspired by seeing the name of Paul Dirac on the Honours board. Dirac received the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics for predicting anti-matter and, in particular, the positron. I know very well how exciting and amazing visits to CERN can be and I’m delighted to have my name associated with this prize. I hope it inspires young students today just as I was inspired by Dirac.”