Physicists covening in Canada have a brand new atom smashing project designed to reveal one of the Universe's great secrets: Why does matter have mass? The unsexy sounding still though theoretical sub-atomic particle Higgs boson has an ecumenical alias the "God particle." Given the pronounced views on the existence of God professed by many scientists, the name alone is interesting. Its discovery could shed new light on basic workings of the universe, including proof of the existence of black holes and even eventually incorporating the force of gravity into a unified physics theory -- a quest that many great minds in physics, including Albert Einstein, have pursued. ( Globe and Mail)
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Enrique Gili is a freelance writer covering Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS), issues for regional magazines in the Southland and beyond. I live in Ocean Beach, San Diego the coolest beach town around.
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Finding the God Particle
Category: Technology
Posted on: April 30, 2007 5:34 PM, by EJGili
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Comments
Ummm.... Higgs Boson
Posted by: Dave Gill | April 30, 2007 06:40 PM
It's supposed to be the Higgs boson.
As in the refrain from Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound, "Where's Higgs?"
-Rob
Posted by: Rob Knop | April 30, 2007 07:09 PM
That should be Higgs boson...
A unified fundamental basis for physics is a kind of "Holy Grail" for science (can't shake those religion metaphors). Another evocative term used in this context is "Theory of Everything". (Hawking uses this term.)
It's all fascinating research; but the metaphors do seem to go a tad overboard. A unified physics might conceivably be a "theory of everything" in the sense of giving a consistent account of all the fundamental physical interactions; but it won't replace chemistry, biology, geology, astronomy, psychology or any of those other fields of science that look at "everything else".
I doubt it will have a lot of impact on belief in God, either. People who are inclined to believe in "God" are unlikely to find the Higgs boson an attractive substitute. People who look to the Higgs boson, or other fundamental physical fields or particles, as a complete basis for all the natural world, are already disbelievers in God.
Posted by: Chris Ho-Stuart | April 30, 2007 07:18 PM
Sorry to say what should be obvious but just in case... the Higgs boson has nothing whatsoever to do with God, and it is only called "the God particle" (in press articles, not when physicists talk among themselves) because someone came up with that name as a good title to sell his book.
Posted by: Alejandro | May 1, 2007 05:45 AM
"Will people please stop saying 'God Particle'?"
— Clifford Johnson
Posted by: Blake Stacey | May 1, 2007 10:49 AM
I have a brand new formula for commonground, mention physics
and God in the same paragraph and make a typographical error.
Perhaps I'll call it the Dog Blog.
Posted by: Enrique | May 1, 2007 11:40 AM