LSI Blog - Monday, July 19, 2010
Still Looking for the 'God Particle'
A report that the elusive Higgs boson has been
found is premature.
Summary: Has the elusive Higgs boson--nicknamed the "God particle--
been found? Stefan Soldner-Rembold, a spokesman for the Tevatron
accelerator in Illinois where the discovery supposedly occurred, has said,
"There is no merit to the rumors of a Higgs discovery."
Those rumors began with a blog post by an Italian particle physicist.
Tommasco Dorigo, a physicist at the U. of Padua in Italy, wrote on his
blog: "It reached my ear, from two different, possibly independent sources,
that an experiment at the Tevatron is about to release some evidence of a
light Higgs boson signal." However, he was unsure about the degree of
certainty that could be attached to the alleged discovery.
Soldner-Rembold stated more data was needed and added that blogs are
not a reliable source of information.
The Higgs boson is important to the accepted theory of physics known as
the Standard Model. It is the sub-atomic particle that explains why all other
particles have mass (i.e. the quantity of matter as determined from its weight).
Despite decades of trying to detect the Higgs boson, nobody has
yet found it.
Finding the Higgs boson is a primary goal of the Large Hadron Collider
(LHC) near Geneva which isn't expected to be capable of searching for a
Higgs signal until 2011 at the earliest. The rival Tevatron could still make
the discovery before the LHC.
Particle physicists are ready to present the latest data from their
experiments at the International Conference of High Energy Physics in
Paris from July 22-28.
(Photo of the Tevatron accelerator from Wikimedia Commons.)
To read the entire article, click on this link to BBC NEWS.
Comment: Why has the Higgs boson been referred to as the "God
particle" by some scientists? Physicists hope its discovery will help lead
to a "grand theory of the universe" that can do away with God. In other
words, they are looking for reasons to make religion less relevant.
Although I'm not a physicist, I wonder why such a finding, if it's ever
achieved, could be said to do away with God. Will finding a sub-atomic
particle that explains why other particles have mass really do away with a
Creator? Will it explain how the entire universe could pop up out of
nothingness in a Big Bang? Will it explain the origin of life? Will it explain
why the universe has such order and apparent design which even secular
scientists admit is there? Will it explain the origin of morality? In fact, will
it explain how such a particle came to be in the first place? These and
other questions would remain unanswered, I believe, even if the Higgs
boson is found.
Regarding the Large Hadron Collider, it's a shame that so much money
(at least 9 billion dollars) went into a project which had as a main goal to
do away with God, as if that were possible. May at least some of those
who are looking for the Higgs boson, as they search the stars and other
wonders of the universe, be led to eventually exclaim as did the psalmist:
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his
hands." (Psalm 19:1)
Still Looking for the 'God Particle'
A report that the elusive Higgs boson has been
found is premature.
Summary: Has the elusive Higgs boson--nicknamed the "God particle--
been found? Stefan Soldner-Rembold, a spokesman for the Tevatron
accelerator in Illinois where the discovery supposedly occurred, has said,
"There is no merit to the rumors of a Higgs discovery."
Those rumors began with a blog post by an Italian particle physicist.
Tommasco Dorigo, a physicist at the U. of Padua in Italy, wrote on his
blog: "It reached my ear, from two different, possibly independent sources,
that an experiment at the Tevatron is about to release some evidence of a
light Higgs boson signal." However, he was unsure about the degree of
certainty that could be attached to the alleged discovery.
Soldner-Rembold stated more data was needed and added that blogs are
not a reliable source of information.
The Higgs boson is important to the accepted theory of physics known as
the Standard Model. It is the sub-atomic particle that explains why all other
particles have mass (i.e. the quantity of matter as determined from its weight).
Despite decades of trying to detect the Higgs boson, nobody has
yet found it.
Finding the Higgs boson is a primary goal of the Large Hadron Collider
(LHC) near Geneva which isn't expected to be capable of searching for a
Higgs signal until 2011 at the earliest. The rival Tevatron could still make
the discovery before the LHC.
Particle physicists are ready to present the latest data from their
experiments at the International Conference of High Energy Physics in
Paris from July 22-28.
(Photo of the Tevatron accelerator from Wikimedia Commons.)
To read the entire article, click on this link to BBC NEWS.
Comment: Why has the Higgs boson been referred to as the "God
particle" by some scientists? Physicists hope its discovery will help lead
to a "grand theory of the universe" that can do away with God. In other
words, they are looking for reasons to make religion less relevant.
Although I'm not a physicist, I wonder why such a finding, if it's ever
achieved, could be said to do away with God. Will finding a sub-atomic
particle that explains why other particles have mass really do away with a
Creator? Will it explain how the entire universe could pop up out of
nothingness in a Big Bang? Will it explain the origin of life? Will it explain
why the universe has such order and apparent design which even secular
scientists admit is there? Will it explain the origin of morality? In fact, will
it explain how such a particle came to be in the first place? These and
other questions would remain unanswered, I believe, even if the Higgs
boson is found.
Regarding the Large Hadron Collider, it's a shame that so much money
(at least 9 billion dollars) went into a project which had as a main goal to
do away with God, as if that were possible. May at least some of those
who are looking for the Higgs boson, as they search the stars and other
wonders of the universe, be led to eventually exclaim as did the psalmist:
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his
hands." (Psalm 19:1)
