Franois Englert

1 Early life
Franois Englert is a Holocaust survivor.[6] He was born
in a Belgian Jewish family. During the German occupation of Belgium in World War II, he had to conceal
his Jewish identity and live in orphanages and childrens
homes in the towns of Dinant, Lustin, Stoumont and, nally, Annevoie-Rouillon. These towns were eventually
liberated by the US Army.

2 Academic career
He graduated as an electromechanical engineer in 1955
from the Universit Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) where he
received his PhD in physical sciences in 1959. From
1959 until 1961, he worked at Cornell University, rst
as a research associate of Robert Brout and then as asNobel Prize Laureate Franois Englert during press conference in
sistant professor. He then returned to the ULB where he
Stockholm, December 2013
became a university professor and was joined there by
Robert Brout who, in 1980, with Englert coheaded the
theoretical physics group. In 1998 Englert became professor emeritus. In 1984 Professor Englert was rst appointed as a Sackler Professor by Special Appointment in
Franois Baron Englert (French: [ l]; born 6 the School of Physics and Astronomy at Tel-Aviv UniverNovember 1932) is a Belgian theoretical physicist and sity. Englert joined Chapman Universitys Institute for
2013 Nobel prize laureate (shared with Peter Higgs). He Quantum Studies in 2011, where he serves as a Distinis Professor emeritus at the Universit libre de Bruxelles guished Visiting Professor.
(ULB) where he is member of the Service de Physique
Thorique. He is also a Sackler Professor by Special Appointment in the School of Physics and Astronomy at Tel 3 The
BroutEnglertHiggs
Aviv University and a member of the Institute for QuanGuralnikHagenKibble
tum Studies at Chapman University in California. He
was awarded the 2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretimechanism[7]
cal Particle Physics (with Gerry Guralnik, C. R. Hagen,
Tom Kibble, Peter Higgs, and Robert Brout), the Wolf Brout and Englert showed in 1964[8] that gauge vecPrize in Physics in 2004 (with Brout and Higgs) and the tor elds, abelian and non-abelian, could acquire mass
High Energy and Particle Prize of the European Physical if empty space were endowed with a particular type of
Society (with Brout and Higgs) in 1997 for the mecha- structure that one encounters in material systems. Fonism which unies short and long range interactions by cusing on the failure of the Goldstone theorem for gauge
generating massive gauge vector bosons. He has made elds,[9] Higgs reached essentially the same result.[10] A
contributions in statistical physics, quantum eld theory, third paper on the subject was written later in the same
cosmology, string theory and supergravity.[4] He is the re- year by Gerald Guralnik, C. R. Hagen, and Tom Kibcipient of the 2013 Prince of Asturias Award in technical ble.[11] The three papers written on this boson discovand scientic research, together with Peter Higgs and the ery by Higgs, Englert and Brout, and Guralnik, Hagen,
CERN.
Kibble were each recognized as milestone papers for this
Englert was awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics, discovery by Physical Review Letters 50th anniversary
together with Peter Higgs for the discovery of the Higgs celebration.[12] While each of these famous papers took
mechanism.[5]
similar approaches, the contributions and dierences be1

REFERENCES

tween the 1964 PRL symmetry breaking papers is noteworthy.

bosons which became the foundation of the electroweak theory of elementary particles.[15]

To illustrate the structure, consider a ferromagnet which

is composed of atoms each equipped with a tiny magnet.
When these magnets are lined up, the inside of the ferromagnet bears a strong analogy to the way empty space
can be structured. Gauge vector elds that are sensitive to
this structure of empty space can only propagate over a nite distance. Thus they mediate short range interactions
and acquire mass. Those elds that are not sensitive to
the structure propagate unhindered. They remain massless and are responsible for the long range interactions.
In this way, the mechanism accommodates within a single unied theory both short and long-range interactions.

2004 Wolf Prize in Physics (with R. Brout and P.W.

Higgs), awarded by the Wolf Foundation For pioneering work that has led to the insight of mass generation, whenever a local gauge symmetry is realized asymmetrically in the world of sub-atomic particles.

Brout and Englert, Higgs, and Gerald Guralnik, C. R.

Hagen, and Tom Kibble introduced as agent of the vacuum structure a scalar eld (most often called the Higgs
eld) which many physicists view as the agent responsible for the masses of fundamental particles. Brout
and Englert also showed that the mechanism may remain
valid if the scalar eld is replaced by a more structured
agent such as a fermion condensate. Their approach led
them to conjecture that the theory is renormalizable.[13]
The eventual proof of renormalizability, a major achievement of twentieth century physics, is due to Gerardus 't
Hooft and Martinus Veltman who were awarded the 1999
Nobel Prize for this work. The BroutEnglertHiggs
GuralnikHagenKibble mechanism is the building stone
of the electroweak theory of elementary particles and laid
the foundation of a unied view of the basic laws of nature.

Major awards
1978 First Prize in the International Gravity Contest
(with R. Brout and E. Gunzig), awarded by the Gravity Research Foundation for the essay The Causal
Universe.[14]
1982 Francqui Prize, awarded by the Francqui
Foundation once every four years in exact sciences For his contribution to the theoretical understanding of spontaneous symmetry breaking in
the physics of fundamental interactions, where, with
Robert Brout, he was the rst to show that spontaneous symmetry breaking in gauge theories gives
mass to the gauge particles, for his extensive contributions in other domains, such as solid state physics,
statistical mechanics, quantum eld theory, general
relativity and cosmology, for the originality and the
fundamental importance of these achievements.
1997 High Energy and Particle Physics Prize (with
R. Brout and P.W. Higgs), awarded by the European
Physical Society For formulating for the rst time
a self-consistent theory of charged massive vector

2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle

Physics (with Guralnik, Hagen, Kibble, Higgs, and
Brout) awarded by The American Physical Society
For elucidation of the properties of spontaneous
symmetry breaking in four-dimensional relativistic
gauge theory and of the mechanism for the consistent generation of vector boson masses.[16]
By Royal Decree of 8 July 2013 Franois Englert
was ennobled a baron by King Albert II of Belgium.
2013 Nobel prize in physics. On 8 October 2013,
it was announced that Peter Higgs and Franois Englert would share the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics
for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that
contributes to our understanding of the origin of
mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was
conrmed through the discovery of the predicted
fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERNs Large Hadron Collider.[17]

5 References
[1] CV. Francquifoundation.be. 1982-04-17. Retrieved
2013-10-08.
[2] Tel Aviv U. aliated prof. who is a Holocaust survivor
wins Nobel for physics, The Jerusalem Post, Danielle Ziri,
10/08/2013
[3] Tel Aviv University professor shares Nobel for physics,
Haaretz, 8 October 2013
[4] Publication list
[5] The Nobel Prize in Physics 2013 (PDF) (Press release).
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 8 October 2013.
Retrieved 8 October 2013.
[6] USC Shoah Foundation Institute testimony of Francois
Englert - USHMM Collections Search
[7] HiggsBroutEnglertGuralnikHagenKibble Mechanism on Scholarpedia. Scholarpedia.org. Retrieved
2013-10-08.
[8] F. Englert and R. Brout Phys.Rev.Lett. 13 321 (1964).
[9] P. W. Higgs Physics Letters 12 132 (1964).
[10] P. W. Higgs Phys.Rev.Lett. 13 508 (1964).

[11] Guralnik, G.; Hagen, C.; Kibble, T. (1964). Global Conservation Laws and Massless Particles. Physical Review
Letters 13 (20): 585. Bibcode:1964PhRvL..13..585G.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.13.585.
[12] Physical Review Letters - 50th Anniversary Milestone
Papers. Prl.aps.org. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
[13] Fundamental Problems in Elementary Particle Physics,
Proceedings of the 14th Solvay Conference, University
of Brussels, 27 October 1967 (John Wiley, New York,
1968) page 18.
[14] Gravity Research Foundation Awards. Gravityresearchfoundation.org. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
[15] EPS High Energy Prize Laureates
[16] American Physical Society - J. J. Sakurai Prize Winners. Aps.org. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
[17] Press release from Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
(PDF). 8 October 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2013.

External links
Franois Englerts personal webpage

7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1

Text

Franois Englert Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Englert?oldid=660035134 Contributors: Tpbradbury, Bearcat,

Timrollpickering, Edcolins, Xtreambar, Engti, David Schaich, Bender235, Kwamikagami, Fdewaele, Emerson7, Rjwilmsi, EamonnPKeane, Wester, Pnicolet, David Biddulph, SmackBot, Ephraim33, GRuban, John, Gobonobo, RandomCritic, Eastfrisian, Dl2000,
Cydebot, Gonzo fan2007, Headbomb, Pvosta, Ceancata, Hans Dunkelberg, Haydarhan, Gaussgauss, Moose-32, SieBot, BotMultichill,
Afernand74, Sean.hoyland, RS1900, Frmorrison, Alexbot, Muro Bot, RogDel, Addbot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, ArthurBot, Omnipaedista, ,
Gershonavi, Arbero, Lightlowemon, Mary at CERN, RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, Kercker, Bengt Nyman, Sergent perkins, ZroBot, BabbaQ,
ClueBot NG, Ypnypn, Muon, Julesjulian, Widr, Bibcode Bot, EuroAgurbash, Athos, Prav001, Brad7777, Helihax, Eakopskvm, VIAFbot, YvelinesFrance, Jamesx12345, Backendgaming, RaphaelQS, Pengolodhlerner, Atotalstranger, Hgt001, Chausssettte, Jonarnold1985,
KasparBot and Anonymous: 45

7.2

Images

File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-bysa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

File:Francois_Englert.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Francois_Englert.jpg License: CC-BY-SA3.0 Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Magnus Manske using CommonsHelper. Original artist:
Original uploader was Pnicolet at en.wikipedia
File:Nobel_Prize.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ed/Nobel_Prize.png License: ? Contributors:
Derivative of File:NobelPrize.JPG Original artist:
Photograph: JonathunderMedal: Erik Lindberg (1873-1966)
File:Nobel_Prize_31_2013.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Nobel_Prize_31_2013.jpg License: CC
BY 2.0 Contributors: Flickr: IMG_7472 Original artist: Bengt Nyman
File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
File:Symbol_book_class2.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Symbol_book_class2.svg License: CC
BY-SA 2.5 Contributors: Mad by Lokal_Prol by combining: Original artist: Lokal_Prol

7.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0