Sleeping Cyborg


Subscribe to feed


A collection of cool people and projects.

The Higgs Boson: An Elusive Little Something

by on 7 July 2012
in , ,
with some comments, maybe.

The Higgs particle, or the Higgs boson, has begun to captivate the world of science, and surprisingly for a complex physics issue has crept into popular culture under the alias of "The God Particle". But in all seriousness, what is it, and how did it earn such a ridiculous title? To answer this completely you would either need a physics major or an extreme devotion to science, so in an effort to avoid a boring post I will keep it to the basics here.


So basically, the Higgs boson allows everything to have mass. Pretty important, but not what I would consider to be a "God particle". This unfortunately inaccurate nickname takes its roots from the book The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question? in which Leon Lederman talks about particle physics. Lederman's reason behind calling the Higgs boson the "God Particle" was that nothing else is currently taking up so much money or is as key to our current understanding of the universe. This in turn sparked a media frenzy over "The God Particle" and leaves us at where we are today.


Guest Writer, Zach Parker