The award is particularly sweet for Professor Kibble, after he was overlooked for the Nobel Prize in Physics last year. Peter Higgs, after whom the particle is named, and Francois Englert were chosen to receive the award, excluding the three other physicists who first developed the theory. Tom Kibble was one of the three, with Gerald Guralnik Carl Hagen also missing out. Higgs was quick to highlight Kibble's exclusion, noting that he was "the obvious candidate" to be the third scientist honoured by the Nobel Committee (awards are limited to three recipients). You can read more about how the pioneering work of Higgs, Kibble and Virdee influenced the discovery of the Higgs boson here, here and here.

[Image credit: Imperial College London]