news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-proof-god-particle-found-131226045.html
FILE - In this May 20, 2011 file photo, a physicist explains the ATLAS experiment on a board at the European Center for Nuclear Research, CERN, outside Geneva, Switzerland. The illustration shows what the long-presumed Higgs boson particle is thought to look like. Scientists at CERN plan to make an announcement on Wednesday, July 4, 2012 about their hunt for the elusive sub-atomic particle. Physicists have said previously they are increasingly confident that they are closing in on it based on hints at its existence hidden away in reams of data.
FILE - In this May 20, 2011 file photo, a wall painting by artist Josef Kristofoletti is seen at the Atlas experiment site at the European Center for Nuclear Research, CERN, outside Geneva, Switzerland. Scientists at CERN plan to make an announcement on Wednesday, July 4, 2012 about their hunt for the elusive sub-atomic particle. Physicists have said previously they are increasingly confident that they are closing in on it based on hints at its existence hidden away in reams of data. GENEVA (AP) -- Scientists working at the world's biggest atom smasher plan to announce Wednesday that they have gathered enough evidence to show that the long-sought "God particle" answering fundamental questions about the universe almost certainly does exist. But after decades of work and billions of dollars spent, researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, aren't quite ready to say they've "discovered" the particle. Instead, experts familiar with the research at CERN's vast complex on the Swiss-French border say that the massive data they have obtained will essentially show the footprint of the key particle known as the Higgs boson -- all but proving it exists -- but doesn't allow them to say it has actually been glimpsed. Senior CERN scientists say that the two independent teams of physicists who plan to present their work at CERN's vast complex on the Swiss-French border on July 4 are about as close as you can get to a discovery without actually calling it one. "I agree that any reasonable outside observer would say, 'It looks like a discovery,'" British theoretical physicist John Ellis, a professor at King's College London who has worked at CERN since the 1970s, told The Associated Press. "We've discovered something which is consistent with being a Higgs." CERN's atom smasher, the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider, has been creating high-energy collisions of protons to help them understand suspected phenomena such as dark matter, antimatter and ultimately the creation of the universe billions of years ago, which many theorize occurred as a massive explosion known as the Big Bang. For particle physicists, finding the Higgs boson is a key to confirming the standard model of physics that explains what gives mass to matter and, by extension, how the universe was formed. Each of the two teams known as ATLAS and CMS involve thousands of people working independently from one another, to ensure accuracy. Rob Roser, who leads the search for the Higgs boson at the Fermilab in Chicago, said: "Particle physicists have a very high standard for what it takes to be a discovery," and he thinks it is a hair's breadth away. Rosen compared the results that scientists are preparing to announce Wednesday to finding the fossilized imprint of a dinosaur: "You see the footprints and the shadow of the object, but you don't actually see it." Though an impenetrable concept to many, the Higgs boson has until now been just that -- a concept intended to explain a riddle: How were the subatomic particles, such as electrons, protons and neutrons, themselves formed? The answer came in a theory first proposed by physicist Peter Higgs and others in the 1960s. It envisioned an energy field where particles interact with a key particle, the Higgs boson. The idea is that other particles attract Higgs bosons and the more they attract, the bigger their mass will be. Some liken the effect to a ubiquitous Higgs snowfield that affects other particles traveling through it depending on whether they are wearing, metaphorically speaking, skis, snowshoes or just shoes. Officially, CERN is presenting its evidence at a physics conference in Australia this week, but plans to accompany the announcement with meetings in Geneva. The two teams, ATLAS and CMS, then plan to publicly unveil more data on the Higgs boson at physics meetings in October and December. Scientists with access to the new CERN data say it shows with a high degree of certainty that the Higgs boson may already have been glimpsed, and that by unofficially combining the separate results from ATLAS and CMS it can be argued that a discovery is near at hand. Ellis says at least one physicist-blogger has done just that in a credible way. CERN spokesman James Gillies said Monday, however, that he would be "very cautious" about unofficial combinations of ATLAS and CMS data. "Combining the data from two experiments is a complex task, which is why it takes time, and why no combination will be presented on Wednesday," he told AP. But if the calculations are indeed correct, said John Guinon, a longtime physics professor at the University of California at Davis and author of the book "The Higgs Hunter's Guide," then it is fair to say that "in some sense we have reached the mountaintop." Sean M Carroll, a California Institute of Technology physicist flying to Geneva for the July 4th announcement, said that if both ATLAS and CMS have independently reached these high thresholds on the Higgs boson, then "only the most curmudgeonly will not believe that they have found it."
Morgantown, West Virginia o 2 hrs 28 mins ago I don't see how it is against religion to attempt to understand the universe we live in. I also don't understand how people can be upset about a particles nickname, haven't you ever heard of a god of rock or a god of cooking or a god of theater? Name things after God seems like flattery, no one is worshiping the higgs boson, lol.
but the people in the scientific community have made statements dismissing God as the reason for it all. Science is the search for truth, unless that truth takes you where you don't want to go....
Joseph 2 hrs 20 mins ago Stephen Hawking says God exists, most scientists do. It's only the vocal ones wanting to make a stir that come out and say "this discovery disproves God". Science is the search for truth, and the truth is that no matter what we discover, God could have made it.
they may say "I believe it exists", or "it might eventually be proved", or any similar hemming and hawing answer. there is no such thing as "just a theory" in science, that's a layman's use. In science, a theory is a working model that has invariably stood up to every test devised to discredit it. And even when referring to theories, scientists will only commit themselves to the extent of "it may still be disproved, but so far, this theory stands up to all tests".
Sand o 1 hr 57 mins ago The scientific community does not use the words 'god particle' when referring to the Higgs boson. That terminology is used by journalists to generate attention.
Jackson, Mississippi o 3 hrs ago It's too bad this groundbreaking news about the fundamental nature of the universe won't get the attention that's being paid to basketball trades, baseball all-star games and what certain celebrities were seen wearing out in public.
JS 3 hrs ago "But after decades of work and billions of dollars spent" Just to say a particle might exist. Give me a percent of that and i can tell you the same thing in minutes.
Collegeville, Pennsylvania o 5 hrs ago Rob Roser, who leads the search for the Higgs boson at the Fermilab in Chicago, says "particle physicists have a very high standard for what it takes to be a discovery" and thinks it is a hair's breadth away. Coming from from someone dealing with sub-atomic scale particles, a "hair's breadth" is really huge...
The way these physicists think is just on an entirely different level than what us "normals" operate on. About a year ago I read a book called, "Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb" by Richard Rhodes. What's fascinating about this subject ba...
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