Gerald Guralnik, an American physicist who was among the handful of scientists regarded as originators of the ideas that were ultimately and triumphantly confirmed by the discovery of the celebrated Higgs boson, died April 26 in Providence, R.I. He was 77.

The cause was a heart attack, said his son, Zachary Guralnik.

In 2012, scientists announced the discovery of the long-sought particle believed necessary to their best theory of the ultimate workings of the universe. Even before that elusive particle was detected, it had been named for British physicist Peter Higgs.

In the world of physics, Higgs was regarded as undeniably deserving of the honor. But it was also true that in the 1960s, he was just one of six physicists credited with laying the groundwork for what has become known as the Higgs theory.

One of the six was Gerald Guralnik, a physics professor at Brown University in Providence.

Speaking with an interviewer from Brown, Guralnik described what is regarded as one of the most significant scientific papers of the past 50 years. He and two colleagues published it Aug. 24, 1964, in the science journal Physical Review Letters.

Guralnik, a native of Cedar Falls, Iowa, said the paper was the first in a series that laid the cornerstone of the "Standard Model" of particle interactions and led to prediction of the Higgs boson.


The Standard Model is scientists' best way of describing particle interactions, and confirmation of the model required proof of the existence of the Higgs, the particle that gives mass to many other particles.

When it was published, Guralnik said, the paper was without precedent. Surprisingly, he said, two other papers, differing from his but related to it, were published in the same issue of the journal in which his appeared. One of those papers was written by Higgs.

Over the years, Guralnik worked on many other problems, all rewarding, he said, but none that ever achieved the fundamental importance of "my early adventures."

-- Washington Post