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Tom Kibble
British physicist / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Thomas Walter Bannerman "Tom" Kibble (23 December 1932 – 2 June 2016),[2] was a British theoretical physicist, senior research investigator at The Blackett Laboratory, at Imperial College London, UK and Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College. He was knighted in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to physics.[3][4]
Sir Tom W. B. Kibble | |
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Born | (1932-12-23)23 December 1932[1] |
Died | 2 June 2016(2016-06-02) (aged 83)[2] |
Nationality | British |
Alma mater | University of Edinburgh, BSc, MA, PhD |
Known for | Quantum field theory, Broken symmetry, Higgs Boson, Higgs mechanism, and Cosmology |
Awards | Dirac Medal Sakurai Prize |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Theoretical physics |
Institutions | Imperial College London |
Thesis | Topics in quantum field theory: 1. Schwinger's action principle; 2. Dispersion relations for inelastic scattering processes (1958) |
Doctoral advisor | John Polkinghorne |
His research interests were in quantum field theory (the quantum theory of elementary particles) and in the connections between high-energy particle physics and cosmology (the study of the physical universe). He is best known as one of the first to describe the Higgs mechanism (explaining how some but not all elementary particles have mass), and for his research on topological defects (roughly - points, lines or surfaces in space where there is a jump). From the 1950s he was concerned about the nuclear arms race and from 1970 took leading roles in promoting the social responsibility of the scientist.