Higgs Boson in the News
It is official. Britain’s Peter Higgs and Francois Englert of Belgium, discoverers of the Higgs boson, will receive the Nobel Prize in Physics. The existence of this particle has been predicted for decades, but it was not until 2012, with the help of the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), that the particle was detected.
Francois Englert and Peter Higgs discussing their findings
In this news article on ABC Science, discovery of the Higgs particle is described as follows:
The insight has been hailed as one of the most important in the understanding of the cosmos. Without the Higgs mechanism all particles would travel at the speed of light and atoms would not exist.
The ABC Science article notes the contribution of a number of scientists, not the least of which those working at CERN where the discovery was made. Alfred Nobel, however, stipulated that any prize given in his name could not include more than three scientists. The Nobel Prize was instituted in a time when scientific discovery was viewed as a more solitary pursuit in contrast with the strides being made today by recognized teams of researchers. Confirmation of the Higgs mechanism dramatically advances our understanding of the physics of the universe, although there is much work still to be accomplished.
On a lighter note:
