Search for Higgs bosons at LEP2 and hadron colliders

The search for the Higgs boson was one of the most relevant issues of the final years of LEP running at high energies. An excess of 3 sigma beyond the background expectation has been found, consistent with the production of the Higgs boson with a mass near 115 GeV/c/sup 2/. At the upgraded Tevatron and at LHC the search for the Higgs boson will continue. At the Tevatron Higgs bosons can be detected with masses up to 180 GeV with an assumed total integrated luminosity of 20 fb/sup -1/. LHC has the potential to discover the Higgs boson in many different decay channels for Higgs masses up to 1 TeV. It will be possible to measure Higgs boson parameters, such as mass, width, and couplings to fermions and bosons. The results from Higgs searches at LEP2 and the possibilities for searches at hadron colliders will be reviewed. (156 refs).