| On October 7, 2008, the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]] awarded the 2008 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] to three scientists for their work in subatomic physics symmetry breaking. [[Yoichiro Nambu]], of the [[University of Chicago]], won half of the prize for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in the context of the strong interactions, specifically [[chiral symmetry breaking]]. Physicists [[Makoto Kobayashi (physicist)|Makoto Kobayashi]] and [[Toshihide Maskawa]], of [[Kyoto University]], shared the other half of the prize for discovering the origin of the [[Explicit symmetry breaking|explicit breaking]] of CP symmetry in the weak interactions.<ref>{{cite web|author=The Nobel Foundation|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 2008|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2008/index.html|work=nobelprize.org|access-date=January 15, 2008}}</ref> This origin is ultimately reliant on the Higgs mechanism, but, so far understood as a "just so" feature of Higgs couplings, not a spontaneously broken symmetry phenomenon. | | On October 7, 2008, the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]] awarded the 2008 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] to three scientists for their work in subatomic physics symmetry breaking. [[Yoichiro Nambu]], of the [[University of Chicago]], won half of the prize for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in the context of the strong interactions, specifically [[chiral symmetry breaking]]. Physicists [[Makoto Kobayashi (physicist)|Makoto Kobayashi]] and [[Toshihide Maskawa]], of [[Kyoto University]], shared the other half of the prize for discovering the origin of the [[Explicit symmetry breaking|explicit breaking]] of CP symmetry in the weak interactions.<ref>{{cite web|author=The Nobel Foundation|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 2008|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2008/index.html|work=nobelprize.org|access-date=January 15, 2008}}</ref> This origin is ultimately reliant on the Higgs mechanism, but, so far understood as a "just so" feature of Higgs couplings, not a spontaneously broken symmetry phenomenon. |