We Might Have Found The God Particle

July 5, 2012 Blog Michael Metcalf

In news that has had physicists around the world in rapturous celebration – not always a common sight – scientists at Geneva’s Large Hadron Collider at CERN have announced that they have found the elusive Higgs Boson, often referred to as the God Particle. It’s a previously theorised, but never found, particle that provides the crucial link between matter and mass – the manifestation of an invisible field that permeates the entire universe, that we haven’t been able to see yet. Researchers say their results show a confidence level at the “five-sigma” point – meaning there’s roughly a 1 in 5-million chance of the data being wrong.

The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva

This short article from the Guardian’s Jeff Forshaw is a lucid explanation of what the Higgs Boson is, and how it gives us a critical understanding of the fundamental laws of the universe.

“By supposing that empty space is not empty at all, but rather it is crammed full of Higgs bosons, it becomes possible for particles to acquire mass. It is rather like the universe is pervaded with a kind of cosmic treacle through which the elementary particles wade.” – Jeff Forshaw

Professor Brian Cox explained exactly what the Large Hadron Collider actually does in a TED talk from 2008. Local resident and member of the High Energy Physics group at the University of Manchester, Cox has been the British media’s superstar physicist for a number of years now, with a relaxed, engaging presenting style and a knack for making complex subjects understandable like only the best teachers can do.

Professor Brian Cox at TED 2008

The most interesting fallout from yesterday’s news might not have actually yet come to light. With the world of physics alight with new knowledge and theories from this discovery, the possibilities for science have just expanded again. It will be fascinating to see how this affects future discoveries in the world of physics. Science is always changing, evolving, and finding new things. True science often means being proven wrong – as Stephen Hawking found out by losing his $100 bet that the Higgs Boson wouldn’t be found at the LHC. What do you think the next big discovery in science might be?

By the way – we’re not really supposed to call it the God Particle - physicists hate that apparently, due to it not really solving the ultimate question and disproving religion, which was prophesised when it was first named. Then again, they did present the announcement slides with the world’s most hated font - a heinous crime in any journalist’s eyes – so now we’re even.