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In recent times contemporary science has been
making significant strides in its untiring effort
“to read the mind of God,” by uncovering the
innermost secrets of nature. The ‘discovery’ of
the Higgs boson, popularly known as “the God particle,”
is a historic milestone in this adventurous odyssey. Not
only is the discovery itself highly significant, but also the
method used and the complex instruments developed to
carry out this challenging task are breaking new ground in
the progressive march of science. Although at present it will
of the “global scientific community’s most challenging and
comprehensive quest” to delve deep into the secrets of nature.
According to Rolf Heuer, Director General of CERN, “we
have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature.”
CMS spokesperson Joe Incanadela thinks that this discovery
may turn out to be “one of the biggest observations of
any new phenomena in our field in the last 30 or 40 years,
going back to the discovery of quarks, for example.” Joseph
Lykken, a theoretical physicist from Fermilab, near Chicago,
believes that this discovery places us at the centre of “why the
Higgs boson verified at 5 sigma signal
at around 125 GeV
have only limited immediate impact on ordinary people, its
theoretical implications are enormous and the new areas of
research and discovery it will open up in the near future are
full of hopes. Undoubtedly, these developments augur well for
science and the human effort to delve deep into the mysteries
of material reality.
The ‘Discovery’
On 4 July 2012 two research teams, CMS and ATLAS,
of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
in Geneva, Switzerland, working independently, obtained
clear signs of a new particle having properties very similar
to those of the long-predicted Higgs boson, at the level of
5 sigma, meaning an accuracy of 99.999%. This event has
been acclaimed as the “biggest leap in physics,” the crowning
universe is here in the first place.” Reasons for this euphoric
optimism are not hard to find, since this finding, if fully
established scientifically, can be “the key to the cosmic riddle”
of explaining how material bodies exist, how they get size,
shape and materiality. It can also serve as the springboard for
further ideas and insights to solve many riddles challenging
science today.
Strictly speaking, the announcement of CERN on
4 July 2012 cannot be termed ‘a discovery’, since further
confirmations are needed. However, for all practical purposes
it can be treated as a discovery, and this is why I am referring
to it as a scientific discovery in this article.
What is the ‘God Particle’?
Simply put, the ‘God particle’ gives mass to material
bodies. Mass is a technical concept in Classical or Newtonian
JIVAN: News and Views of Jesuits in India OCTOBER 2012 5