Sir, – We warmly congratulate François Englert and Peter Higgs on being awarded the Nobel Physics prize for their work leading to the discovery of a new particle, the Higgs boson.
We also congratulate the member states of CERN for working together to make this great discovery, which enriches our understanding of the fundamental workings of nature.
It was a great pleasure to welcome Peter Higgs and colleagues to Ireland in May, when their talks at the Royal Irish Academy and NUI Maynooth provided inspiration to all, particularly the hundreds of school children who attended.
Along with Peter Higgs we hope this recognition of fundamental science will help raise awareness of the value of blue-sky research. – Yours, etc,
Dr BRIAN DOLAN (NUIM); Prof TRISTAN McLOUGHLIN (TCD); Dr RONAN McNULTY (UCD); Dr EOIN O COLGAIN (Oviedo); Prof MICHAEL PEARDON (TCD); Dr JON-IVAR SKULLERUD (NUIM); Dr JOOST SLINGERLAND (NUIM), C/o Departamento de Fisica, Universidad de Oviedo,
Oviedo, Spain.