The Discovery of the Higgs Boson

The discovery of a new fundamental particle at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), CERN is the latest step in a long quest seeking to answer one of physics’ most enduring questions: why do particles have mass? The experiment’s much-anticipated success confirms predictions made decades earlier by Peter Higgs and others; offering a glimpse into a universe of physics beyond the Standard Model.

Beginning with basic concepts in classical mechanics, the story unfolds through relativity and quantum mechanics, describing forces, matter and the unification of theories with an understanding driven by the tools of mathematics.

Coursera allows you to preview the first module for free - you can choose this option when you enrol or pay for the full course. FutureLearn allows you to access the course for free - if you want to gain a certificate you can choose to pay for the course.

In this course, you’ll learn about:

• Theoretical physical phenomena
• Theories on matter and light
• Quantum electrodynamics and Quantum chromodynamics
• The Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism and the Standard Model
• Experimental evidence for the Standard Model and going beyond it 

This course is for anyone with an interest in physics and astronomy – especially those keen to learn more about particle physics. 

The course requires a basic level of mathematical skills, to the level of a final-year school pupil or equivalent.