Co-recipient of the
Nobel Prize in
Physics along with
Martinus J.G. Veltman in 1999 for their work in understanding the
electro-weak interaction (or
weak force).
Gerardus 't Hooft joined the lab of Martinus J.G. Veltman in 1969 to study high-energy physics. His first project was to work on Veltman's program, Schoonship which used symbolic representations of quantum mechanical equations to algebraicly simplify and represent them. He applied the program to developing a solid theoretical foundation for explaining the electro-weak force which is involved in nuclear decay. Their work together was extremely successful and they published the theoretical machinery for treating the electroweak force.
From their theoretical work, the physical properties of W and Z particles and the mass of the top quark were accurately predicted. Another prediction of Hooft and Veltman's theory is the presence of the Higgs particle. Experimental verification of the existance of the Higgs particle awaits the completion of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.