Peter Higgs

Physicist who proposed a theoretical particle, later named after him, to explain why the fundamental building blocks of the universe have mass. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in 2013.

He built upon the works of other scientists to put forward a theory that all of space is in a quantum field, which led to the conclusion there must be an undetectable particle as well.

His father was a BBC sound engineer, and due to his job the family moved around a lot.

His discovery was mentioned frequently by Jim Parsons' physicist character, Sheldon Cooper, in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory.