A scientist who achieved worldwide fame with the discovery of the so-called ‘God particle’ left a £3.2 million fortune.
Professor Peter Higgs was a researcher at the University of Edinburgh when he predicted the existence of a subatomic particle which gives substance or mass to planets, stars and life.
The physicist won the Nobel Prize in 2013 – nearly five decades after making his monumental discovery in 1964.
Professor Higgs died ‘peacefully’ at his home in April 2024 at the age of 94, following a short illness. Now it has emerged his scientific breakthrough was not his last gift to humanity.
Details of his will reveal the physicist left a £200,000 share of his £3,227,516 fortune to charity.
He ordered that legacies of £45,000 should be given to Oxfam and Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).
Professor Higgs also donated £35,000 to Cancer Research UK and homeless charity Shelter Scotland.
Further gifts of £15,000 were made to the Martin Ryle Trust research fund, the University of Edinburgh Development Trust, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Save the Children.
Scientist Professor Peter Higgs tours London Science Museum’s Large Hadron Collider exhibition in 2013
Professor Higgs unveils a blue plaque in his honour in his home city of Edinburgh
Nobel Prize-winning Professor Peter Higgs, for whom the subatomic particle the Higgs boson was named
The British Red Cross, Age Scotland, Amnesty International and the Civil Liberties Trust each received £15,000 as well.
The rest of his estate will be inherited by his family.
In a touching tribute to the institution that employed him at the time of his discovery, Professor Higgs left instructions for his Nobel Prize in Physics medal to be gifted to Edinburgh University.
Papers show he owned two properties in Edinburgh worth a total of £1.3 million and personal effects and cash worth £1.4 million.
He also had additional assets valued at more than £500,000.
Professor Higgs was born in Newcastle in 1929 and joined Edinburgh University in 1960. He wrote his ground-breaking paper after developing the theory while walking in the hills around the city.
In 1980, he became a professor of theoretical physics, a post he held for 16 years before retiring and assuming the title of emeritus professor. The academic married American linguist Jody Williamson and the couple had two sons, Christopher and Jonathan, before their divorce in the early 1970s.
Known as the Higgs boson, the particle he predicted would not be confirmed until 2012, following experiments at the Large Hadron Collider in Cern, Switzerland.
The professor was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics with Francois Englert in 2013. At the time, he said: ‘It’s very nice to be right sometimes.’
However, he said he felt uncomfortable being likened to other Nobel winners such as Albert Einstein, and turned down the offer of a knighthood from Tony Blair in 1999 as he did not want any title.
He lived in a small flat, had no TV and used public transport. In later years, he told of his unease with his fame, saying he was often bombarded by selfie requests.
Last month, a collection of items belonging to his estate, including his academic gown, Nobel badges and even his Rubik’s Cube, raised £37,632 at auction.
