Higgs Boson discovered

[Palle]

Atheist here.

Leon Lederman is credited with the God Particle epithet. He is Jewish.

[Leviathan]

So what are they gonna do with the large hadron collider now? its not like they can put that huge thing in a museum.

The facility becomes a museum.

[Sinue_v2]

I'm going to remain tentatively enthusiastic over this. The media (even some science publications) have a bad habit of overhyping and overextending the implications of discoveries for the sake of getting viewership. See: Darwinius Masillae (touted as a missing link in human evolution, wherein it's more a link between Monkeys and Lemurs) and GFAJ-1 (the so called "Alien Life" Nasa was claimed to have discovered which was only a terrestrial extremeophile bacteria which had incorporated arsenic as a replacement for some of the phosphates in it's DNA.), and just about every medical study ever published, ever. So far as I know, they've only discovered a sub-atomic particle which exists at the right GeV that the Higgs-Boson is predicted to be at, but they haven't yet ascertained it's properties. It's a pretty safe bet to say it's the Higgs, but it could (conceivably) be an entirely different particle altogether... and I kind of hope it is. THAT is the truly exciting part of this discovery... what if it's a totally unique discovery of something that we've never even theorized before?

At any rate, if it is the Higgs, then that is a huge boost to the veracity of the standard model of elementary particles as we understand it, but it's still a far sight from having a complete unified theory of elementary particle interactions. There's still lots of work for the LHC to do, and finding the Higgs-Boson was only one of it's most famous goals.

I think i'm starting to see the light... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4lJxV3ZtH4&feature=plcp

No... no, you're not. If you're letting religious ministries inform you on science, then you're still very much wandering around in the dark.

[Nitro Vordex]

The facility becomes a museum.

Or they turn it into the most badass roller coaster in history.

[Tessu]

Isn't it fun to get excited about theoretical physics whenever there's a big discovery, and then not give a shit about it the other 95% of the time? I mean, this is pretty cool and all, but I'm not going to pretend I ever cared about it before now. Ever.

hey ATHEISTS if theres no GOD then why are you naming ur particle after Him eh???????

This is the best argument against athiesm I have ever seen

[Randomness]

It's a pretty safe bet to say it's the Higgs, but it could (conceivably) be an entirely different particle altogether... and I kind of hope it is. THAT is the truly exciting part of this discovery... what if it's a totally unique discovery of something that we've never even theorized before?

I always hope that science's predictions get shattered. It's far more interesting that way, and it's also the outcome with more potential for inventions.

[Sinue_v2]

I wonder if this is an opportune moment to remind everyone that America could have made this discovery almost 20 years ago had the SSC down in Texas not been shit-canned mid construction due to budget cuts. It was expected to accelerate particles at energies three times greater than what the LHC is capable of. Imagine what else we could have discovered with that monster. Still, the folks over at Fermilab in Illinois were fully confident that they would be able to discover the Higgs before the LHC if they could have upgraded the facilities. Instead, we shut that effort down in 2011 due to budget concerns.

But it IS apparently fully in the budget to skirt close to a forced default on the national debt over ideological pissing matches which resulted in the nation's credit rating being lowered.

Go America.

[NegaTsukasa]

Only a God can create a "God particle"! Mwahahahahaha!!!

:P

also, can this particle dive deeper into the creation and understanding of PSO's God-of-Equipe?

[str898mustang]

the money spent on this coulda been put to better use.

[Randomness]

Only a God can create a "God particle"! Mwahahahahaha!!!

:P

also, can this particle dive deeper into the creation and understanding of PSO's God-of-Equipe?

That's just a name attached by media. It has no special meaning other than that it sounds important.

I wonder if this is an opportune moment to remind everyone that America could have made this discovery almost 20 years ago had the SSC down in Texas not been shit-canned mid construction due to budget cuts. It was expected to accelerate particles at energies three times greater than what the LHC is capable of. Imagine what else we could have discovered with that monster. Still, the folks over at Fermilab in Illinois were fully confident that they would be able to discover the Higgs before the LHC if they could have upgraded the facilities. Instead, we shut that effort down in 2011 due to budget concerns.

But it IS apparently fully in the budget to skirt close to a forced default on the national debt over ideological pissing matches which resulted in the nation's credit rating being lowered.

Go America.

God, that was a sad episode. I can't tell if it's because I've gotten old enough that I care about politics during the period or not, but the last several years have seemed especially asinine.

And of course, nobody is surprised that our budget priorities are so screwed up. (Also, obligatory "everything's bigger in Texas")