To Infinity And (Way) Beyond

FHM goes to King’s College London to spend the day with one of the world’s most renowned theoretical physicists to ask him one question: why?

- ​​​​​​​Matt Blake

Picture in your mind what a theoretical physicist should look like. You may not know it, but you’re probably imagining Professor John Ellis. In the same way you would expect a 1980s hair-metal guitarist to be all tattoos and perm, a butcher to have a bloody apron, or an IT specialist to wear a sweat-stained Minecraft t-shirt, Prof. Ellis is the living embodiment of a man who probes the boundaries of space and time for a living. His long, white hair blends into his long, white beard. A pair of thin-rimmed spectacles perches at the end of his nose and he has a corduroy jacket slung over the chair in his office. He is even wearing a t-shirt which displays the algebraic equation describing all visible matter in the universe. If theoretical physics were rock and roll, Prof. Ellis would be Keith Richards.

And right now, he is talking about the God particle – the special sauce that makes the universe possible; the energy field that endows every other particle with mass and, therefore, allows nature to build things… like humans. It’s easy to see why it gets that nickname. Just don’t call it that to Prof. Ellis.

“The term ‘God particle’, is something that us physicists find very embarrassing,” he says. “It gives rise to all sorts of misconceptions. For starters, it has absolutely nothing to do with God.”

We’ve come to meet the professor at King’s College London where he is Clerk Maxwell professor of theoretical physics. Walking with him from the lift to his office feels like the science equivalent of strolling through a hip-hop after party with Jay Z. Clever-looking postgrads scurry out of our way, nod reverently as we walk past or rush to hold open the doors. Even so, the professor is humble, modest and smiley. And today, his only rider is a cup of coffee and a piece of chalk.