Sir Thomas Walter Bannerman Kibble
[ (; 23 December 1932 – 2 June 2016) was a British ]theoretical physicist
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experime ...
, senior research investigator at the Blackett Laboratory
The Blackett Laboratory is part of the Imperial College Faculty of Natural Sciences and has housed the Department of Physics at Imperial College London since its completion in 1961. Named after experimental physicist Patrick Blackett who establi ...
and Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
.[ His research interests were in quantum field theory, especially the interface between high-energy ]particle physics
Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) an ...
and cosmology
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...
. He is best known as one of the first to describe the Higgs mechanism
In the Standard Model of particle physics, the Higgs mechanism is essential to explain the generation mechanism of the property "mass" for gauge bosons. Without the Higgs mechanism, all bosons (one of the two classes of particles, the other be ...
, and for his research on topological defect
A topological soliton occurs when two adjoining structures or spaces are in some way "out of phase" with each other in ways that make a seamless transition between them impossible. One of the simplest and most commonplace examples of a topological ...
s. From the 1950s he was concerned about the nuclear arms race
The nuclear arms race was an arms race competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War. During this same period, in addition to the American and Soviet nuc ...
and from 1970 took leading roles in promoting the social responsibility of the scientist.
Early life and education
Kibble was born in Madras, in the Madras Presidency of British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, on 23 December 1932. He was the son of the statistician Walter F. Kibble, and the grandson of William Bannerman, an officer in the Indian Medical Service
The Indian Medical Service (IMS) was a military medical service in British India, which also had some civilian functions. It served during the two World Wars, and remained in existence until the independence of India in 1947. Many of its officer ...
, and the author Helen Bannerman
Helen Brodie Cowan Bannerman (' Watson; 25 February 1862 – 13 October 1946) was a Scottish author of children's books. She is best known for her first book, ''Little Black Sambo'' (1899).
Life
Bannerman was born at 35 Royal Terrace, Edinbur ...
. His father was a mathematics professor at Madras Christian College, and Kibble grew up playing on the grounds of the college and solving math 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
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a BSc
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
in 1955, MA in 1956 and a PhD in 1958.
Career
Kibble worked on mechanisms of symmetry breaking
In physics, symmetry breaking is a phenomenon in which (infinitesimally) small fluctuations acting on a system crossing a critical point decide the system's fate, by determining which branch of a bifurcation is taken. To an outside observe ...
, phase transitions
In chemistry, thermodynamics, and other related fields, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic states of ...
and the topological defect
A topological soliton occurs when two adjoining structures or spaces are in some way "out of phase" with each other in ways that make a seamless transition between them impossible. One of the simplest and most commonplace examples of a topological ...
s (monopoles, cosmic strings
Cosmic strings are hypothetical 1-dimensional topological defects which may have formed during a symmetry-breaking phase transition in the early universe when the topology of the vacuum manifold associated to this symmetry breaking was not simp ...
or domain walls) that can be formed.
He is most noted for his co-discovery of the Higgs mechanism
In the Standard Model of particle physics, the Higgs mechanism is essential to explain the generation mechanism of the property "mass" for gauge bosons. Without the Higgs mechanism, all bosons (one of the two classes of particles, the other be ...
and Higgs boson with Gerald Guralnik
Gerald Stanford "Gerry" Guralnik (; September 17, 1936 – April 26, 2014) was the Chancellor’s Professor of Physics at Brown University. In 1964 he co-discovered the Higgs mechanism and Higgs boson with C. R. Hagen and Tom Kibble (GHK). As par ...
and C. R. Hagen. As part of Physical Review Letters
''Physical Review Letters'' (''PRL''), established in 1958, is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal that is published 52 times per year by the American Physical Society. As also confirmed by various measurement standards, which include the ''Journa ...
50th anniversary celebration, the journal recognised this discovery as one of the milestone papers in PRL history. For this discovery Kibble was awarded the American Physical Society's 2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics. 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
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
.[ In 2014, Nobel Laureate ]Peter Higgs
Peter Ware Higgs (born 29 May 1929) is a British theoretical physicist, Emeritus Professor in the University of Edinburgh,Griggs, Jessica (Summer 2008The Missing Piece ''Edit'' the University of Edinburgh Alumni Magazine, p. 17 and Nobel Prize ...
expressed disappointment that Kibble had not been chosen to share the Nobel Prize with François Englert
François, Baron Englert (; born 6 November 1932) is a Belgian theoretical physicist and 2013 Nobel prize laureate.
Englert is professor emeritus at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), where he is a member of the Service de Physique Thé ...
and himself.
Kibble pioneered the study of topological defect generation in the early universe.[
] The paradigmatic mechanism of defect formation across a second-order phase transition
In chemistry, thermodynamics, and other related fields, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic states o ...
is known as the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. His paper on cosmic strings introduced the phenomenon into modern cosmology.
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,[ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: ] of the Institute of Physics
The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application.
It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physic ...
(1991), and of Imperial College London (2009). He was also a member of the American Physical Society (1958), the European Physical Society
The European Physical Society (EPS) is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to promote physics and physicists in Europe through methods such as physics outreach. Formally established in 1968, its membership includes the national physical so ...
(1975) and the Academia Europaea
The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences.
The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...
(2000).[ In 2008, Kibble was named an Outstanding Referee by the American Physical Society.][
In addition to the Sakurai Prize, Kibble has been awarded the ]Hughes Medal
The Hughes Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of London "in recognition of an original discovery in the physical sciences, particularly electricity and magnetism or their applications". Named after David E. Hughes, the medal is awarded with ...
(1981) of the Royal Society, the Rutherford (1984) and Guthrie Medals (1993) of the Institute of Physics,[ the ]Dirac
Distributed Research using Advanced Computing (DiRAC) is an integrated supercomputing facility used for research in particle physics, astronomy and cosmology in the United Kingdom. DiRAC makes use of multi-core processors and provides a variety o ...
Medal (2013), the Albert Einstein Medal
The Albert Einstein Medal is an award presented by the Albert Einstein Society in Bern. First given in 1979, the award is presented to people for "scientific findings, works, or publications related to Albert Einstein" each year.
Recipients
...
(2014) and the Royal Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2014). He was appointed a CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in the 1998 Birthday Honours
Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supplem ...
and was knighted in the 2014 Birthday Honours
The 2014 Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of ...
for services to physics.
Kibble was posthumously awarded the Isaac Newton Medal
The Isaac Newton Medal and Prize is a gold medal awarded annually by the Institute of Physics (IOP) accompanied by a prize of £1,000. The award is given to a physicist, regardless of subject area, background or nationality, for outstanding con ...
by the Institute of Physics for his outstanding lifelong commitment to the field.
Publications
In 1966 Kibble authored a textbook, 'Classical Mechanics
Classical mechanics is a physical theory describing the motion of macroscopic objects, from projectiles to parts of machinery, and astronomical objects, such as spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. For objects governed by classi ...
'',[Kibble T W B (1966) ''Classical Mechanics''. ]McGraw-Hill
McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes refere ...
, 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
McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes refere ...
, London.
Personal life and voluntary roles
Kibble was married to Anne Allan from 1957 until her death in 2005. Kibble had three children.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Kibble became concerned about the nuclear arms race[SGR Sponsors]
/ref> 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
The British Society for Social Responsibility in Science (BSSRS) was a radical science movement most active in the 1970s.
The main aims of the BSSRS was to raise awareness of the social responsibilities of scientists, the political aspects of sci ...
; 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
Scientists against Nuclear Arms (SANA) was formed in 1981 by the physicist and peace activist Mike Pentz together with Steven Rose, both academics at the Open University, to oppose nuclear arms.
SANA was one of the forerunner organisations of S ...
; he was a sponsor of Scientists for Global Responsibility
Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) in the United Kingdom promotes the ethical practice and use of science, design and technology. SGR is affiliated to the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility (INES). ...
; 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
The Ramblers is the trading name of the Ramblers Association, Great Britain's leading walking charity. The Ramblers is also a membership organisation with around 100,000 members and a network of volunteers who maintain and protect the path ...
.
He died in London on 2 June 2016 at the age of 83.
References
External links
* Imperial College People
2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics Recipient
Papers written by T. Kibble in the INSPIRE-HEP database
T. W. B. Papers written by T. Kibble on the Mathematical Reviews website
Papers written by T. Kibble in Physical Review
Physical Review Letters – 50th Anniversary Milestone Papers
Imperial College London on PRL 50th Anniversary Milestone Papers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kibble, Tom W. B.
1932 births
2016 deaths
20th-century Indian physicists
Academics of Imperial College London
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Anglo-Indian people
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
English physicists
Fellows of the Royal Society
Indian particle physicists
Indian theoretical physicists
J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics recipients
Albert Einstein Medal recipients
Knights Bachelor
People educated at Stewart's Melville College
Scientists from Chennai