| So, what's going on in Cern, Switzerland? are | | | | so fundamental to physics that it is often |
| some mad scientists going to create a black hole | | | | nicknamed the "God particle". After more than 40 |
| and destory the earth? That's what some people | | | | years of research, and billions of pounds, scientists |
| think. Others have just the opposite idea. The | | | | have yet to prove that it is real. But Professor |
| 40-year hunt for the holy grail of physics - the | | | | Higgs, 78, now believes the search is nearly over. |
| elusive "God particle" that is supposed to give | | | | The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is almost ready |
| matter its mass - is almost over, according to the | | | | to debut. After more than a decade of effort, |
| leading scientist who first came up with the | | | | and something north of $5,000,000,000.00 US$ |
| theory. | | | | value |
| Peter Higgs, whose work gave his name to the | | | | A new atom-smasher that will be switched on |
| elusive Higgs boson particle, said that he was | | | | near Geneva later this year is virtually guaranteed |
| more than 90 per cent certain it would be found | | | | to find it, he said. It is even possible that the |
| within the next few years. | | | | critical evidence already exists, in data from an |
| The Higgs boson is a hypothetical massive scalar | | | | American experiment in Illinois that has yet to be |
| elementary particle predicted to exist by the | | | | analysed fully. |
| Standard Model of particle physics. It is the only | | | | Tantalising glimpses of the boson from other, less |
| Standard Model particle not yet observed, but | | | | powerful particle accelerators, have suggested |
| would help explain how otherwise massless | | | | that unequivocal evidence should emerge almost |
| elementary particles still manage to construct | | | | immediately when the LHC begins its experiments. |
| mass in matter. | | | | The Higgs boson is hard to detect because it is |
| The Higgs boson was the professor's elegant | | | | hypothesised to exist only at very high energies, |
| 1964 solution to one of the great problems with | | | | which last existed in nature in the moments after |
| the standard model of physics - how matter has | | | | the Big Bang, hence the need for an atom |
| mass and thus exists in a form that allows it to | | | | smasher. |
| make stars, planets and people. He proposed that | | | | But will this big smasher, smash us in the process? |
| the universe is pervaded by an invisible field of | | | | Can we play God? We'll soon find out. |
| bosons that consist of mass but little else. | | | | Basically, the LHC will fire beams of protons |
| Without trying to get too technical, bosons | | | | around a 17-mile underground tunnel before these |
| operate differently, very differently than other | | | | collide at close to the speed of light to release |
| particles (fermions) do. As particles move through | | | | vast bursts of energy. Four vast caverns hold |
| this field, bosons effectively stick to some of | | | | sophisticated detectors that will track the particles |
| them, making them more massive, while leaving | | | | produced by the collisions. If Higgs turns out to be |
| others to pass unhindered. Photons, light particles | | | | right, "I will certainly open a bottle of something", |
| that have no mass, are not affected by the Higgs | | | | he said. If the boson is not found, however, "I |
| field at all. | | | | should be very, very puzzled. If it's not there, I no |
| What's all this mean? | | | | longer understand what I think I understand." |
| The mysterious boson postulated by Professor | | | | Now there's a TRUTH for us all- for sure! |
| Higgs, of the University of Edinburgh, has become | | | | |