The most important scientific discovey in my lifetime

TOGWT- Hey, thanks for posting that, first (but certainly it won't be the *last*) I'd heard of it.



NthDegree- Very short explanation is that it appears prevailing ideas about particle physics are correct, and specifically we're gaining some insights into "where mass comes from".



Here's a pretty simple explanation- The Higgs boson made simple - Cosmic Log
 
Read it over the holiday, and while it is very important, would not yet place it at the top.

They hypothized that it was there, just took a few billion dollars and years to find it.

It will open up the universe, no doubt, however I probably won't be around to see any real benefit of the finding.

Grumpy
 
Paul2011 said:
History in the making, Time to burn all the old science books in schools and start printing new ones!
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Not really - the Higgs is something that is predicted by the Standard Model, which has been more or less in place since the 70s. Now, if they hadn't found the Higgs at the energy scales allowed by the SM, we'd be seeing some interesting times as the physicists scramble to come up and validate a model to replace the SM...
 
C. Charles Hahn said:
They were referring to it as the "God Particle" on the local news... we'll see about that one.
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I think the title 'God Particle' was a way to get headlines / attention. I much prefer 'Higgs Particle' named after the scientist who pioneered the research, which is a more common scientific convention
 
TOGWT said:
I think the title 'God Particle' was a way to get headlines / attention. I much prefer 'Higgs Particle' named after the scientist who pioneered the research, which is a more common scientific convention
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I agree, and I bet most people who call it the "God particle" don't have a clue why that name might (kinda, sorta, in a manner of speaking...) apply. Eh, I guess that, to me, it smacks of dumbing stuff down as opposed to offering an easy to understand explanation.
 
TOGWT said:
I think the title 'God Particle' was a way to get headlines / attention. I much prefer 'Higgs Particle' named after the scientist who pioneered the research, which is a more common scientific convention
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I agree. The 'God Particle' name carries a certain connotation with it that feels a bit inaccurate/disingenuous.
 
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