Prof Peter Higgs: Boson is not ‘God’ particle

[rug]

By CLARE MCKIM
Published on Monday 8 April 2013 00:00

SCOTS scientist Professor Peter Higgs has urged the public to stop calling the Higgs boson the “God particle” – because he is an atheist.

The scientist came up with the theory of a sub-atomic particle, since dubbed the Higgs boson, which would explain the mystery of how things have mass.

But he wants people to stop referring to it as the “God particle” because he does not believe the particle holding the physical fabric of the universe together is the work of an almighty creator.

Prof Higgs, 83, who lives in Edinburgh, said: “First of all, I’m an atheist. The second thing is, I know that name was a kind of joke and not a very good one. I think he shouldn’t have done that as it’s so misleading.”

http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/prof-peter-higgs-boson-is-not-god-particle-1-2882106

[Newest Reality]

1. I would suggest

the Dharmakaya particle, then.

[rug]

2. That's apt.

[haikugal]

3. It's the

"God damned particle" they've been looking for...nothing to do with religion. lol

[Phillip McCleod]

8. exactly. couldn't publish 'damned'..

..but they could completely mislead the gullible public.

and a meme is born, a virus, nasty as can be.

[skepticscott]

4. This would be better directed at the media

than the public in general. Not too many average Joes are talking about the Higgs Boson at the water cooler. It's the media that tries to attract attention to these stories with the name "god particle" in headlines, recognizing as they do the deep seeded need many of their readers have to validate their belief that there's a 'god' behind everything.

[rug]

5. It's getting some coverage.

http://www.google.com/news?ncl=dZORu1xcjNB8pjMdmFUKjB2nJuOJM&q=higgs+boson&lr=English&hl=en

[dimbear]

6. Higgs bosons are ephemeral, extremely expensive, and have no practical application.

So-- 'God particle' isn't a bad name at all.

[rug]

7. And it inexplicablyprovides substance where none should exist.

[Phillip McCleod]

9. well.. technically it 'explicably' provides substance..

..given that the theory came before observation in this case.. long before, in fact. one could say that this is one area where the goddamned particle is very different from god. higgs predicted it and later on it was actually discovered. the very definition of explicable.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

12. How do you know they have no practical application?

None has yet been discovered or invented, but that's not the same thing at all.

[dimbear]

13. If the phrase "no practical application" can't be applied to something so transient and expensive,

then the phrase "no practical application" has no practical application. Unfortunately because of the demise of meta, I'm forbidden to opine further.

[goldent]

10. So does this mean Higgs wants to ensure people to call it the Higgs boson?

Stop standing in my spotlight God! You didn't predict it!

[Phillip McCleod]

11. true god predicted the apocalypse according to the thumpers..

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just imagine a progress bar for a windows computer trying to 'diagnose the problem'