Comments on: Higgs Physicists’ Plan for Winning a Nobel Prize, Step 1: Stay Alive

By: Mary

Mary — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:15:50 +0000

Frank – Walter Gilbert may still be around Harvard and could probably speak to this also. Unfortunately Paul Matthews is not around to confirm as he is a key piece of the puzzle also.

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 20:29:40 +0000

Frank is right…Salam won the prize primarily on a lecture not a paper.

Ironically, it is the GHK paper that Salam worked primarily from due to proximity of GHK at IC London as well as the completeness of the paper. Bob Lange (Physics Prof) at Brandeis Univ may be able to help on this. He was at IC London at the time and Harvard with Guralnik, Schwinger, Gilbert, and Hagen (MIT).

By: frank

frank — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:28:39 +0000

Mary says that GHK “were first to talk on the solution in 1963 in both London (IC) and Cambridge MA…” Can she (or anyone, in private to me if they wish f.close@physics.ox.ac.uk) support this? I am researching the history of this business for a book (The Infinity Puzzle) and am unaware that any public presentation was made by any of GHK prior to them writing their paper in 1964. If they did make a public presentation that could be exceedingly important (e.g. Salam’s case for Nobel Prize was due in part to him having given public lectures at IC in 1967, independent of Weinberg’s own later paper and Paul Matthews testifying to the fact).If however there was no such presentation, GHK claims for priority are harder to support.

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 18:22:34 +0000

Maybe Goldstone will get the prize if it is not found – although he was snubbed in 2008 as he should have got the prize then.

By: Sorbit

Sorbit — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:50:18 +0000

Will someone also get the prize if the Higgs is not found as predicted?

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:48:10 +0000

Ellis seemingly has never read the three PRL. Zinn-Justin has and below is his presentation from France. The order of publication is clear – the quality has been lost over the last 46 years. GHK had the strongest paper and were the first to talk on the solution in 1963 in both London (IC) and Cambridge, MA (MIT and Harvard) as they worked with Salam, Wally Gilbert, and Paul Matthews.

http://indico.lal.in2p3.fr/getFile.py/access?contribId=65&sessionId=10&resId=0&materialId=slides&confId=1109

By: Rhacodactylus

Rhacodactylus — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:45:39 +0000

I believe determining percentage of credit for your Nobel Prize is whats known as an “Upper Class Problem.” That’s not to say I wouldn’t fight like a Jerry Springer Contestant to make sure my name came first.