Tom Kibble
{{short description|British physicist}}
{{for|the rugby player|Tom Kibble (rugby union)}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| name = Tom Kibble
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|CBE|FRS|MAE}}
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1932|12|23}}
| birth_name = Thomas Walter Bannerman Kibble
| birth_place = Madras, Madras Presidency, British India
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2016|6|2|1932|12|23}}
| death_place = London, England
| residence =
| citizenship =
| nationality = British
| fields = Theoretical physics
Quantum field theory
| workplaces = Imperial College London
| alma_mater = University of Edinburgh (BSc, MA, PhD)
| doctoral_advisor = John Polkinghorne
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students = John W. Barrett{{cite web|url=https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Kibble_Tom/CV |title=Academy of Europe: CV }}
Seifallah Randjbar-Daemi{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}
Jonathan Ashmore{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of London|title=Aspects of quantum field theory|first=Jonathan Felix|last=Ashmore|date=1972|url=http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.623991|website=ethos.bl.uk|hdl=10044/1/16203}}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
| notable_students =
| thesis_title = Topics in quantum field theory: 1. Schwinger's action principle; 2. Dispersion relations for inelastic scattering processes
| thesis_year = 1958
| thesis_url = https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/7695
| known_for = {{no wrap|Einstein–Cartan–Sciama–Kibble theory}}
Kibble–Zurek mechanism
Higgs boson
Higgs mechanism
Cosmic strings
Spontaneous symmetry breaking
| influences =
| influenced =
| awards = {{Plainlist|
- FRS (1980)
- Hughes Medal (1981)
- Rutherford Medal and Prize (1984)
- Guthrie Medal and Prize (1993)
- Sakurai Prize (2010)
- Dirac Medal (2013)
- Albert Einstein Medal (2014)
- Isaac Newton Medal (2016)}}
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| footnotes =
}}
Sir Thomas Walter Bannerman Kibble {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|FRS|MAE}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɪ|b|əl}}; 23 December 1932 – 2 June 2016) was a British theoretical physicist, senior research investigator at the Blackett Laboratory and Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London. His research interests were in quantum field theory, especially the interface between high-energy particle physics and cosmology. He is best known as one of the first to describe the Higgs mechanism, and for his research on topological defects. From the 1950s he was concerned about the nuclear arms race and from 1970 took leading roles in promoting the social responsibility of the scientist.{{cite journal|last1=Gauntlett|first1=Jerome|title=Thomas Kibble (1932–2016) Theoretical physicist and Higgs-boson pioneer|journal=Nature|volume=534|issue=7609|year=2016|page=622|pmid=27357788 |doi=10.1038/534622a|bibcode=2016Natur.534..622G|s2cid=4401102}}
Early life and education
Kibble was born in Madras, in the Madras Presidency of British India, on 23 December 1932.{{Who's Who | title=Kibble, Sir Thomas (Walter Bannerman) | id = U23025 | volume = 2016 | edition = online Oxford University Press|location=Oxford}}{{cite book | title =The International Who's Who 1996–97 | publisher =Europa Publications | edition =60 | year =1996 | pages =826–827 | isbn=978-1-85743-021-9}} He was the son of the statistician Walter F. Kibble, and the grandson of William Bannerman, an officer in the Indian Medical Service, and the author Helen Bannerman. His father was a mathematics professor at Madras Christian College, and Kibble grew up playing on the grounds of the college and solving mathematics puzzles his father gave him. He was educated at Doveton Corrie School in Madras and then in Edinburgh, Scotland, at Melville College and at the University of Edinburgh.{{cite web |url= http://issuu.com/stewartsmelvillefpnews/docs/fp_news_2014|title= Science – It's not Fiction; Tom Kibble|author= |date= December 2014|website= FP News, The magazine and Annual Review of The Stewart's Melville FP Club|publisher= Daniel Stewart's and Melville College Former Pupils Club|page = 13|access-date= 28 July 2015}} He graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a BSc in 1955, MA in 1956 and a PhD in 1958.{{cite web | last =Kibble | first =Tom | title =Thomas Walter Bannerman (Tom) Kibble – Biography | work =Curriculum vitae | publisher =The Academy of Europe | year =2011 | url =http://www.ae-info.org/ae/User/Kibble_Tom/CV}}
Career
Kibble worked on mechanisms of symmetry breaking, phase transitions and the topological defects (monopoles, cosmic strings or domain walls) that can be formed.
He is most noted for his co-discovery of the Higgs mechanism and Higgs boson with Gerald Guralnik and C. R. Hagen.{{cite journal|title=Phys. Rev. Lett. 13, 585 (1964) – Global Conservation Laws and Massless Particles|journal=Physical Review Letters|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.13.585 |doi-access=free|bibcode=1964PhRvL..13..585G }}{{Cite journal|arxiv=0907.3466|title= The History of the Guralnik, Hagen and Kibble development of the Theory of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking and Gauge Particles|journal= International Journal of Modern Physics A|volume= 24|issue= 14|pages= 2601–2627|last1= Guralnik|first1= Gerald S.|year= 2009|doi= 10.1142/S0217751X09045431|bibcode= 2009IJMPA..24.2601G|s2cid= 16298371}}{{cite web |url=http://www.physics.princeton.edu/~mcdonald/examples/EP/guralnik_ap_2_567_67.pdf |title=Guralnik, G S; Hagen, C R and Kibble, T W B (1967). Broken Symmetries and the Goldstone Theorem. Advances in Physics, vol. 2 |access-date=16 September 2014 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924072804/http://www.physics.princeton.edu/~mcdonald/examples/EP/guralnik_ap_2_567_67.pdf }} As part of Physical Review Letters 50th anniversary celebration, the journal recognised this discovery as one of the milestone papers in PRL history.{{cite web|url=http://prl.aps.org/50years/milestones#1964|title=Physical Review Letters – Letters from the Past – A PRL Retrospective|work=Physical Review Letters|date=12 February 2014 }} He was awarded the American Physical Society's 2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics.{{cite web|url=http://www.aps.org/units/dpf/awards/sakurai.cfm|title=APS Physics – DPF – J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics|work=aps.org|access-date=30 January 2023}}
While Guralnik, Hagen, and Kibble are widely considered to have authored the most complete of the early papers on the Higgs theory, they were controversially not included in the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics.[http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/updates/nobel13.cfm APS News - 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics and Landmark Papers in PRL History (8 October 2013)][https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/peter-higgs-francois-englert-win-nobel-prize-in-physics/2013/10/08/1d96aa72-2f98-11e3-8906-3daa2bcde110_story.html "Nobel committee's 'Rule of Three' means some Higgs boson scientists were left out." Washington Post (8 October 2013)][http://www.economist.com/node/21587771 "The 2013 Nobel prizes. Higgs's bosuns." Economist (12 October 2013)][https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/10/economist-explains-8 "Why are some scientists unhappy with the Nobel prizes?" Economist.com (9 October 2013)][http://www.economist.com/node/21548911 "House of dreams. Scientists race to explain why the Higgs boson matters." Economist.com (3 March 2012)]{{Cite journal |arxiv = 1401.6924|bibcode = 2014MPLA...2950046G|title = Where have all the Goldstone bosons gone?|journal = Modern Physics Letters A|volume = 29|issue = 9|page = 1450046|last1 = Guralnik|first1 = G. S|last2 = Hagen|first2 = C. R|year = 2014|doi = 10.1142/S0217732314500461|s2cid = 119257339}}{{cite web
|date=3 May 2014
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/us/gerald-guralnik-77-a-god-particle-pioneer-dies.html
|title=Gerald Guralnik, 77, a 'God Particle' Pioneer, Dies
|website=The New York Times}}
In 2014, Nobel Laureate Peter Higgs expressed disappointment that Kibble had not been chosen to share the Nobel Prize with François Englert and himself.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26014584|title=Early night cost Higgs credit for big physics theory|work=BBC News|date=18 February 2014|access-date=18 February 2014}}
Kibble pioneered the study of topological defect generation in the early universe.
{{Cite journal |last = Kibble |first=T. W. B.|title=Topology of cosmic domains and strings|journal=J. Phys. A: Math. Gen.|volume=9
|issue=8|pages=1387–1398|year=1976|doi = 10.1088/0305-4470/9/8/029 |bibcode = 1976JPhA....9.1387K }} The paradigmatic mechanism of defect formation across a second-order phase transition is known as the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. His paper on cosmic strings introduced the phenomenon into modern cosmology.{{cite journal | last1 =Hindmarsh | first1 =M. | last2 =Kibble | first2 =T. | title =Cosmic strings | journal =Rep. Prog. Phys. | volume =58 | issue =5 | pages =477–562 | year =1995 | doi =10.1088/0034-4885/58/5/001|arxiv = hep-ph/9411342 |bibcode = 1995RPPh...58..477H | s2cid =118892895 }}
He was one of the two co-chairs of an interdisciplinary research programme funded by the European Science Foundation (ESF) on Cosmology in the Laboratory (COSLAB) which ran from 2001 to 2005. He was previously the coordinator of an ESF Network on Topological Defects in Particle Physics, Condensed Matter & Cosmology (TOPDEF).
=Awards and honours=
Kibble was an elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1980,{{cite web|author=Anon|year=1980|publisher=Royal Society|website=royalsociety.org|title=Sir Thomas Kibble CBE FRS|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151113152123/https://royalsociety.org/people/thomas-kibble-11746/|archive-date=13 November 2015|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/thomas-kibble-11746/|location=London}} One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: {{blockquote|"All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License." --{{cite web |url=https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |title=Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies |access-date=9 March 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925220834/https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |archive-date=25 September 2015 |df=dmy-all }}}}{{Cite journal|last1=Duff|first1=M. J.|last2=Stelle|first2=K. S.|date=2021|title=Sir Thomas Walter Bannerman Kibble. 23 December 1932—2 June 2016|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=70|pages=225–244|doi=10.1098/rsbm.2020.0040|s2cid=227209669|doi-access=free|arxiv=2011.13257}} of the Institute of Physics (1991), and of Imperial College London (2009). He was also a member of the American Physical Society (1958), the European Physical Society (1975) and the Academia Europaea (2000). In 2008, Kibble was named an Outstanding Referee by the American Physical Society.{{cite web|url=http://publish.aps.org/OutstandingReferees|title=APS Journals – Outstanding Referees|work=aps.org}}
In addition to the Sakurai Prize, Kibble has been awarded the Hughes Medal (1981) of the Royal Society, the Rutherford (1984) and Guthrie Medals (1993) of the Institute of Physics, the Dirac Medal (2013),{{Cite web|url=http://www.ictp.it/about-ictp/media-centre/news/news-archive/2013/8/dirac_2013.aspx|title=Kibble, Peebles and Rees Share the 2013 Dirac Medal|date=8 August 2013|website=International Centre for Theoretical Physics|access-date=8 June 2016|archive-date=3 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203142122/https://www.ictp.it/about-ictp/media-centre/news/news-archive/2013/8/dirac_2013.aspx|url-status=dead}} the Albert Einstein Medal (2014){{Cite journal|url=http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/57860|title=Faces & Places – Kibble receives Albert Einstein Medal|date=13 July 2014|journal=CERN Courier |access-date=19 March 2019}} and the Royal Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2014).{{Cite web|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/press/2014/Royal-Medallists-and-Prize-Winners-2014.pdf|title=Academic excellence recognised as RSE announces Royal Medals and Prizes|date=19 March 2014|website=Royal Society of Edinburgh|access-date=8 June 2016|archive-date=6 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306184457/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/press/2014/Royal-Medallists-and-Prize-Winners-2014.pdf|url-status=dead}}
He was appointed a CBE in the 1998 Birthday Honours and was knighted in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to physics.{{London Gazette |issue=60895 |date=14 June 2014 |page=b2 |supp=y}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/13/queens-birthday-honours-knights|title=Queen's birthday honours list 2014: Knights|work=the Guardian|date=13 June 2014}}
Kibble was posthumously awarded the Isaac Newton Medal by the Institute of Physics for his outstanding lifelong commitment to the field.{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36675894 | title=Late scientist Tom Kibble wins award for particle work | work=BBC News | publisher=BBC | first=Pallab | last=Ghosh | date=1 July 2016 | access-date=30 August 2016}}
Publications
In 1966 Kibble authored a textbook, Classical Mechanics,Kibble T W B (1966) Classical Mechanics. McGraw-Hill, London. from the 3rd edition onwards with Frank H. Berkshire. which as of 2016 is still in print and is now in its 5th edition.Kibble, T W B and Berkshire, F H (2004) Classical Mechanics. McGraw-Hill, London.
Personal life and voluntary roles
Kibble was married to Anne Allan from 1957 until her death in 2005. Kibble had three children.{{cite web |date=3 June 2016 |url=http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_3-6-2016-10-4-54 |title=Sad farewell to physicist who transformed our understanding of the universe|work=Imperial College London}}{{cite web |date=3 June 2016 |url=http://www.iop.org/news/16/jun/page_67463.html |title=Higgs pioneer and IOP fellow Sir Thomas Kibble has died|work=Institute of Physics}}{{cite web |date=8 June 2016 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/06/08/sir-tom-kibble-physicist--obituary/ |title=Sir Tom Kibble, physicist – obituary |work=The Daily Telegraph}}{{cite web |date=8 June 2016|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jun/08/sir-tom-kibble-obituary?CMP=twt_a-science_b-gdnscience |title=Sir Tom Kibble, physicist obituary. One of the world's foremost theoretical physicists |author=Close, Frank |work=The Guardian|author-link = Frank Close}}{{cite web |date=10 June 2016 |url=http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_9-6-2016-11-21-1 |title=Sir Tom Kibble: a tribute |author=Gauntlett, Jerome|work=Imperial College London}}
In the 1950s and 1960s, Kibble became concerned about the nuclear arms race[http://www.sgr.org.uk/pages/sgr-sponsors#TKibble SGR Sponsors] and from 1970 he took leading roles in several organisations promoting scientists' social responsibility. In the period 1970–1977, he was a national committee member, then treasurer, then chair of the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science; from 1976 he was a trustee of the Science and Society Trust; from 1981 to 1991 he was a national coordinating committee member, then vice-chair, then chair of Scientists against Nuclear Arms; he was a sponsor of Scientists for Global Responsibility; and from 1988 he was chair, and later a trustee, of the Martin Ryle Trust. He was chair of the organising committee of the Second International Scientists' Congress, held at Imperial College in 1988, and was a co-editor of the proceedings.Hassard, John; Kibble; Tom and Lewis, Patricia; (eds) (1989) Ways Out of the Arms Race: from the nuclear threat to mutual security. World Scientific, Singapore.
In retirement, Kibble chaired the Richmond branch of the Ramblers Association.{{Cite web |url=https://www.richmondramblers.org.uk/news/78-sir-tom-kibble.html |title=Arise Sir Tom! |website=Richmond Ramblers |access-date=19 March 2019 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
He died in London on 2 June 2016 at the age of 83.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/02/tom-kibble-uk-physicist-who-worked-on-higgs-boson-dies-says-his/ |title=Tom Kibble, UK physicist who worked on Higgs boson dies, says university |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=2 June 2016 |access-date=2 June 2016 }}{{cite web |date=19 July 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/science/tom-kibble-physicist-who-helped-discover-the-higgs-mechanism-dies-at-83.html |title=Tom Kibble, Physicist Who Helped Discover the Higgs Mechanism, Dies at 83 |work=New York Times|author= Yin, Steph|access-date= 19 March 2019}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
{{Commons category|T. W. B. Kibble}}
- Imperial College People {{Official website|http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/t.kibble}}
- [http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?name=T.W.B.%20Kibble&year=2010 2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics Recipient]
- [http://inspirehep.net/search?p=author%3AT.W.B.Kibble.1+ Papers written by T. Kibble in the INSPIRE-HEP database]
- [http://www.ams.org/msnmain?fn=130&fmt=hl&pg1=IID&s1=158371&v1=Kibble, T. W. B. Papers written by T. Kibble on the Mathematical Reviews website]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- [https://journals.aps.org/search/results?sort=relevance&clauses=%5B%7B%22operator%22%3A%22AND%22%2C%22field%22%3A%22author%22%2C%22value%22%3A%22Kibble_T_W%22%7D%5D Papers written by T. Kibble in Physical Review]
- [http://prl.aps.org/50years/milestones#1964 Physical Review Letters – 50th Anniversary Milestone Papers]
- [http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_13-6-2008-12-42-20?newsid=38514 Imperial College London on PRL 50th Anniversary Milestone Papers]
{{FRS 1980}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kibble, Tom W. B.}}
Category:20th-century Indian physicists
Category:Academics of Imperial College London
Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Category:British theoretical physicists
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Indian particle physicists
Category:Indian theoretical physicists
Category:J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics recipients
Category:Albert Einstein Medal recipients