The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva Switzerland may have
caught a glimpse of the elusive “god particle” – a subatomic particle predicted
by the Standard Model of physics. This particle, officially named the Higgs boson, is called the “god
particle” because without it, the universe as we know it would simply not
exist.
Last week – as America was celebrating Independence Day –
European scientists were also celebrating.
CERN announced the discovery of a new particle – a boson that fits the
description of the Higgs.
They were careful to call the data preliminary, and stated that more analysis
was needed, but discovery of a particle that fits the parameters of a predicted
particle is exciting at least and world-shaking at most. If the results are verified, we could
essentially have proof for one of the most important theories in modern
physics. And I, for one, am
confident the results will prove to be the Higgs boson. The scientists said there is
approximately a one in two million chance that the data from the collision
would not correspond to the Higgs
boson. You don’t have to know much about
science to know that those odds are pretty good.
