E>mc2, but e-mail has no place in his universe

Published on Saturday 13 September 2008 19:35

IF SCIENTISTS do succeed in unravelling the mysteries of the universe, the professor who helped inspire their work may be the last to know.

Professor Peter Higgs, the acclaimed Edinburgh physicist whose ground-breaking proposals on the Big Bang were last week tested in an underground laboratory in Europe, is remarkably old-fashioned: he does not use e-mail.

Although the 79-year-old's complex physics theories might change the future of science, he appears uninterested in embracing one of the most basic – and arguably most useful – advances of the 21st century.

According to a spokeswoman for the University of Edinburgh, which is acting as Higgs' agent, the professor does not have an e-mail address and prefers to be contacted in writing.

He joins US presidential candidate John McCain, 71, who expressed his dislike of e-mail last month and said his staff have to show him how to use the computer. But they may be in a minority: a recent survey showed 70% of over-60s in the UK send e-mails.

Scotland on Sunday political commentator Gerald Warner applauded Higgs' stand: "Technophobia is the new black as people prefer to rely on themselves."