General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLive broadcast of presser on ye olde Higgs Boson:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/04/watch-live-researchers-release-data-on-higgs-boson-god-particle/Courtesy our friends at RawStory.
Duppers
(28,127 posts)Last edited Wed Jul 4, 2012, 04:04 AM - Edit history (1)
"Incandela announced that the results from the CMS detector had a "combined significance of 5 standard deviations," which signaled a particle discovery. The word was greeted with applause in the CERN auditorium."
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/04/12554487-milestone-in-higgs-quest-scientists-find-new-particle?lite
Duppers
(28,127 posts)"The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced early Wednesday morning in Zurich that they had new data in their search for the so-called God particle.
The particle, nicknamed by Nobel prizewinning physicist Leon Lederman, can help scientists understand the origin of mass in the universe. Despite giving the particle the nickname, Lederman isnt such a fan of the title. I find it embarrassing because, though Im not a believer myself, I think it is the kind of misuse of terminology which I think might offend some people, he recently told The Guardian.
U.S. physicists announced on Monday that they had gathered sufficient evidence that showed strong hints of the particles existence, but they were waiting on additional data to be released from CERN to confirm this discovery."
Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)PB
Duppers
(28,127 posts)bleever
(20,616 posts)through a newly drawn path to an unprecedented level of certainty regarding...whew, I'm tired right there.
XemaSab
(60,212 posts)Five!
bleever
(20,616 posts)If I was thirsty, I wouldn't want my water that far away.
ProdigalJunkMail
(12,017 posts)I mean... oh, wait...
sP
joshcryer
(62,276 posts)...except for the fireworks, which we won't have here because of the fire danger, so meh.
I wish the world had an international holiday and ID4 sends that message to me. As Krugman said, it'd take an alien invasion for us to get our shit together as a species.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)joshcryer
(62,276 posts)Spoiler:
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)XemaSab
(60,212 posts)Can someone tell me what he's saying?
bleever
(20,616 posts)will be the name of my next band.
thanks for that!
I'm struggling to comprehend wtf they are saying and this made me laugh!
joshcryer
(62,276 posts)This is so much more awesome.
joshcryer
(62,276 posts)The 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world declared in one voice, the Standard Model was right!
XemaSab
(60,212 posts)when he said that even though he doesn't belong to a CERN member state, he is happy that CERN opened their facilities up to the world community because this is a discovery for all mankind.
joshcryer
(62,276 posts)Lovely, I'm so glad I caught the end. Totally got lucky.
And hopefully I'll be forgiven for my corny ID4 quote...
but.... they're not yet calling it the Higgs.
joshcryer
(62,276 posts)Plus there's still a lot more work to be done to make sure it fits within the Standard Model.
Professor John Womersley. chief executive of the Science and technology Facilities Council, told reporters at a briefing in London: "They have discovered a particle consistent with the Higgs boson. Discovery is the important word. That is confirmed. It's a momentous day for science."
Hey for what it's worth I'd be stoked if it turned out to be something different. Just highly unlikely.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)More like the expected effect of it.
Kind of like having a series of regular welts appear after having your face smacked with a waffle iron.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)a "boson". But, they say the question is "What kind of boson?" That will be their next line of research.
Now, to unravel the next scientific conundrum...
DCBob
(24,689 posts)I am fascinated by particle physics but some of it just so strange and hard to understand.
joshcryer
(62,276 posts)A lot of "Grand Unified Theories" have come out (specifically String Theory) to "debunk" the Standard Model. Here, instead, we have something that proves that 50 years of particle physics is strong, and that it's based in reality.
A confirmation of the Standard Model isn't necessarily exciting, but there are still some holes to be filled by a Higgs Standard Model.
The wiki page is probably most informative: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson
DCBob
(24,689 posts)joshcryer
(62,276 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,361 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Thanks so much for posting this link, bleever...love it!
Here's one European collaboration that has worked spectacularly!
Firebrand Gary
(5,044 posts)Best new thing in the world! Literally.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)with her fellow geeks. She'd be jumping up and down at her newsdesk if she was there.
BEST NEW THING IN 50 YEARS!
muriel_volestrangler
(101,361 posts)Two scientific papers followed, the second of which was initially rejected but finally published in the respected journal Physical Review Letters.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5juzNebL1_3Yc9vnZ1zKck3dqE3lw?docId=N0266681341368363633A
And C.T.R. Wilson's 1927 Nobel Prize acceptance speech:
Working in J. J. Thomson's laboratory during the years when X-rays and radio-activity were discovered, I could not help being interested in ions - and with ions and clouds I have worked ever since.
To those few weeks spent on the highest point of my native land I owe many happy years of work in the laboratory and not a few exciting moments - and perhaps my presence here tonight!
And perhaps I ought to tell how an experience on another Scottish hill was responsible for diverting my attention to another type of cloud than those condensed on ions in the laboratory - the thunder-cloud. While I stood on the top of a hill listening to the mutterings of distant thunder my hair suddenly rose up on end - and so my attention was very forcibly directed to the electric field of a thunder-cloud!
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1927/wilson-speech.html
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)than the mountains?
After walking in those chilly hills, you just have to warm up with a wee draught. Gets those grey cells churning.