A year later Higgs' work was recognised in his Nobel Prize which he shared with Francois Englert of Belgium.
He was a shy man who was uncomfortable with the attention his theory brought him. When the announcement was made, he wiped a tear from his eye, but told journalists: "It's very nice to be right sometimes."
The head of Cern, Fabiola Gianotti, told BBC News that "Peter was a very special person, an immensely inspiring figure for physicists across the world, a man of rare modesty, a great teacher and someone who explained physics in a very simple and yet profound way."
"I am very saddened, and I will miss him sorely," she said.
Alan Barr, Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford, paid tribute to the huge impact Higgs had on our understanding of the Universe.
"He proposed the existence of a field that pervades the entire universe, from mass to particles from electrons to top quarks."
"He was also a true gentleman, humble and polite, always giving due credit to others, and gently encouraging future generations of scientists and scholars," he added.
Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf has paid tribute to him as a "visionary whose idea, and its discovery some 48 years later, is transforming our understanding of the Universe".