Scientists are abuzz with word that the long-sought "God particle" (aka the Higgs boson) may have finally been discovered.
While most scientists don't like the nickname "God particle" (and while many religious people might not neither), it's certainly generated a lot of coverage in the media.
Because of the God-based nickname the particle has been given, the discovery of the Higgs has attracted a lot of press attention, and I've received quite a number of requests to comment on it.
What is the Higgs boson? Why is it important?
And why do they call it the "God particle"?
In this video, I take a look at these and similar questions to give you the basics of the new discovery and what to make of it from a religious perspective.
Before we get to the video, though, here's a Higgs-related joke (adapted from one I read on the Internet):
A Higgs boson walks into a church. The priest, offended by its nickname of the "God particle," immediately orders it out.
The Higgs shrugs and turns to leave. "Okay," it says. "But without me, you can't have Mass."
Groan!
At least if you know the basics of what the Higgs boson is supposed to do.
If not, watch the video and find out!
By the way, several of the requests I got for comment came from members of the Secret Information Club. If you'd like to get cool, informative material on a variety of topics from me by email, you should sign up at www.SecretInfoClub.com. If you have any difficulty, just email me at jimmy@secretinfoclub.com.
What do you think about the "God particle" and what its reported discovery may mean?
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Origin of the “God Particle” nickname for the Higg’s Boson: Physicists were so frustrated with trying to detect it that a physicist who was writing a book on the search called it the “Goddamn Particle”, but the publisher thought that people would find that name offensive and changed the nickname to “God particle”.
Dolce, that story is only one of the stories of how the particle got its name.
Is this similar to anti-matter?
No Lorraine, Anti matter has a normal “looking” atom with a positron (s) orbiting a nucleus of a neutron (if one is needed for the atom) and an electon (s). When it touches normal matter, the positon hits the electon and the nucleus also is destroid. (I don’t know if the associated neutrons are the same or different so their continued existence is unknown by me). It produces a great amount of energy using E=mc(2).
Great Job Jimmy!
The particle is sorta like anti matter in that when it collided with $10 billion, it all just vanished to nothingness. Haha. Thank you, I’ll be here all week. Try the veal.
Jimmy, I read the book “The God Particle” years ago and I’m looking for another really excellent Physics/History of Physics book, even one that addresses metaphysics and proofs for God. Do you have any suggestions?
The Higgs boson is a “particle” of particle physics. Calling it the “God particle” as if it explains the why, or even most of the how, of the universe is ridiculous. Calling it the “God particle” because it has been elusive is OK with me.
What’s really ridiculous is that the developer of the big bang theory, Georges LeMaitre, S.J., was never awarded a Nobel prize in physics. Now, THAT’s religious intolerance by the scientific community. Had he been an atheist, you can bet he’d have been in Stockholm immediately upon publication of the “big bang theory.” In fact, the term “big bang” was coined by English physicist Fred Hoyle as an insult, who didn’t accept it. Of the two, Hoyle won the Nobel prize in physics. Furthermore, despite Lemaitre’s work deriving the Hubble constant two years before Hubble’s publication, Hubble won the prize as well. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out the reasons for that injustice, does it?
When one sits down and just ponders the “what else” all the billions pumped into this useless mother of all boondoggl-ish eggheady dream dog n’ pony shows could’ve been put to better use on behalf of all humanity ... (thus demonstrating the REAL “God Particle” at work) ... well, the only sensible thing left to do is grab a stack of legal-sized pads to make sure they’re all listed.
“God Particle” = Communion, and Communion = “God Particle.” Pass that simple equation to all the “it CAN’T be that simple!” simpletons you run into and trust me, you’ll get a doctoral dissertation defense’s worth of excuses for all the money and time wasted on what kid could figure out for himself after his or her first Sunday School lesson ... and in any parish classroom on any continent in the world, ‘cept Antarctica.
Higgs Boson / “God Particle” -2012 Science news is actually a 150+ year old discovery by a different name ……............Infinite Intelligence….Steve Meyer / New Thought Movement / HolisticDNA
The Sixth Sense Activation Sequence – GROUNDBREAKING New Book in 2012!
“New Thought promotes the ideas that “Infinite Intelligence” or “God” is ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and “right thinking” has a healing effect…” Wikipedia
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