God Particle – Higgs Boson – On the Run

What is this thing called “The God Particle?”

For those of you unfamiliar with the God Particle, got its name from Leon Lederman’s book “The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?”. Lederman gave it the ominous name because the particle is “so central to the state of physics today, so crucial to our understanding of the structure of matter, yet so elusive,” – basically implying it was in some ways like God.

 

The Discovery of the God Particle – Big Bang to Big Data: Kyle Crammer TEDxBimhangton University

 

The Higgs boson particle

The Higgs boson particle is theorized to be connected to the Higgs field (read more at Wikipedia) which is the key driver of giving all matter its mass. This is key to understanding how basic principles of the universe work. Its proof and discovery would be a major step in validating major theories.

So why is it so important?

In short it validates the Standard Model of physics which is in part theoretical right now. The Higgs Boson particle should be created when matter interacts with the Higgs field and thus gets its mass. If the Higgs Boson is not created then that would mean, according to the Standard Model, that everything is massless – not a good thing indeed :>) Or it would mean all or part of our accepted theories are wrong.

Physicists are being cautious in this Where’s Waldo hunt. They don’t want egg on their face should their data prove to be wrong. Only time, more testing and peer review will tell.

 

Michio Kaku – Higgs Boson Discovered (God Particle)

 

The discovery of the Higgs boson/Higgs particle aka “God particle”

Theoretical physicists Peter Higgs (British) and Francois Englert (Belgian) predicted the existence of a particle that gives mass to all the other particle, hence the term “God particle.” Because of their discovery, they were awarded the Nobel Physics Prize in 2013.

Why it is such a big deal? The “God particle” is so-called because it is presumed to be the cause of the “Big Bang” that formed the universe billions and billions of years ago. Higgs and Englert’s discovery validates the prior theories regarding matter and its relationship with the universe.