The first Belgian is awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics

Francois Englert has put Belgium in the history books after receiving the Nobel Prize for Physics in Stockholm. Englert takes home the award with fellow scientist Peter Higgs, whose research together led to their discovery of the God Particle.

The Nobel Prize comes nearly five decades after the two men first predicted its existence. 

Despite the honour, Englert wished he had the opportunity to share the award with another scientist, and compatriot, Robert Brout, who passed away two years ago.

Englert and Brout began their collaboration in 1964 at the Free University Brussels (ULB) where they launched their life-long efforts to solve the puzzle of elementary particles.

The God Particle is believed to be the particle that gives mass to matter, or the key element allowing anything in the universe to exist.

News of the God Particle’s existence, formally known as the Higgs boson particle, first hit international headlines in 2012 when the researchers working at the Swiss-based European Nuclear Research Centre went public with their findings.