NOBEL Prize winner Professor Peter Higgs is to be honoured with the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh.
Subject to councillors' approval at a meeting next Thursday, the acclaimed Edinburgh University scientist will be recognised for his lifetime's work and contribution to theoretical physics.
The honour is granted to individuals who have distinguished themselves through their work or efforts, or to recognise the respect and high esteem in which they are held by the people of Edinburgh.
The illustrious list of living Freemen includes the Queen, Prince Philip, Sir Sean Connery, Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi and Sir Chris Hoy.
Professor Higgs has lived and worked in Edinburgh for more than 50 years and it was in the city, in 1964, that he had his "big idea" - an explanation of why the matter in the Universe has substance, or mass.
His work theorised the existence of a new particle that has come to be known as the Higgs boson, but also called the God particle.
It has been described as the "missing link" that explains how parts of the universe interact with one another.
His discovery has earned him numerous awards, most recently the Nobel Prize for Physics and, earlier this year, the Edinburgh Medal.
He was also a recipient of the Edinburgh Award in 2011.
Lord Provost Donald Wilson submitted the motion to be considered by council next week. It states that the local authority "congratulates Professor Peter Higgs for his outstanding hard work, lifetime commitment and achievement for winning the Nobel Prize for Physics".
He said: "I had the pleasure of presenting Peter with the Edinburgh Medal on behalf of the Edinburgh International Science Festival earlier this year and I think it is absolutely right that we, the people of Edinburgh, recognise his immense contribution to science.
"His achievements with the University of Edinburgh are of global significance and this latest honour will be further evidence of the high esteem in which he is quite deservedly held, not just by his peers but by the people of the city he now calls home."
Prof Higgs said: "I am extremely pleased to be offered the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh - the city that I have grown to love and has been my adopted home for almost all of my working life."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article