2014 Herzberg Memorial Public Lecture: The Higgs Boson and Beyond by John Ellis

2014 Herzberg Memorial Public Lecture, Laurentian University, Monday, June 16, 2014, 7:30 P.M., Rooms FA-054+5+6, A-226

John Ellis, King’s College, London, UK
The Higgs Boson and Beyond

ABSTRACT: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? The discovery of the Higgs Boson at the LHC provides new insights into these basic questions about the Universe, marking the start of a new era in fundamental physics, and opening new vistas in astrophysics and cosmology as well as particle physics.

BIOGRAPHY: John Ellis currently holds the Clerk Maxwell Professorship of Theoretical Physics at King's College in London. After his 1971 PhD from Cambridge University, he worked at SLAC, Caltech, and CERN (Geneva), where he was Theory Division Leader for six years. His research interests focus on the phenomenological aspects of elementary particle physics and its connections with astrophysics, cosmology and quantum gravity. Much of his work relates directly to interpreting results of searches for new particles. He was one of the first to study how the Higgs boson could be produced and discovered. He is currently very active in efforts to understand the Higgs particle discovered recently at CERN, as well as its implications for possible new physics such as dark matter and supersymmetry. He also studies possible future particle accelerators, such as the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) and future circular colliders, is known for his relentless efforts to promote global collaboration in particle physics. John Ellis was awarded the Maxwell Medal (1982) and the Paul Dirac Prize (2005) by the Institute of Physics. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1985 and of the Institute of Physics in 1991, and is an Honorary Fellow of King's College Cambridge and of King's College London.

HISTORY OF THE HERZBERG MEMORIAL PUBLIC LECTURE: In 2000, the CAP Council made a decision in to change the Sunday lecture given at its Annual Congress from a keynote lecture to a public lecture. The lecture would be named the “Herzberg Memorial Public Lecture” in honour of Nobel Laureate Dr. Gerhard Herzberg, longstanding member of the CAP, in recognition of Dr. Herzberg’s known desire to increase the awareness and appreciation of science amongst the public, particularly youth. Support for the Herzberg lecturer is provided, in part, through a bequest from Dr. Herzberg.