Higgs boson: scientists 99.999% sure 'God Particle' has been found

[WestVirginiaRebel]

UK Telegraph:

Scientists believe they have captured the elusive "God particle" that gives matter mass and holds the physical fabric of the universe together.

The historic announcement came in a progress report from the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator.

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."

Scientists say it is a 5 sigma result which means they are 99.999% sure they have found a new particle.

Finding the Higgs plugs a gaping hole in the Standard Model, the theory that describes all the particles, forces and interactions that make up the universe.

If the particle was shown not to exist, it would have meant tearing up the Standard Model and going back to the drawing board.

The Cern laboratory appeared to have let slip its biggest breakthrough in a generation after appearing to announce the discovery of a new particle in an online video overnight.

In the short film accidentally published by the lab yesterday spokesman Joe Incandela is seen describing how physicists at the Large Hadron Collider had "observed a new particle".

Today scientists gathered in Geneva to announce the findings. Among the audience was Peter Higgs, the Edinburgh professor who first proposed the existence of the mysterious particle almost 50 years ago.

________

 

"The argument goes something like this: 'I refuse to prove that I exist,' says God, 'for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.'

"'But,' says Man, 'the Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED.'

"'Oh dear,' says God, 'I hadn't thought of that,' and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.

"'Oh, that was easy,' says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next pedestrian crossing.

"Most leading theologians claim that this argument is a load of dingo's kidneys, but that didn't stop Oolon Colluphid making a small fortune when he used it as the central theme of his bestselling book, Well That about Wraps It Up for God."-The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[Valin]

@WestVirginiaRebel

 

While I haven't looked yet I fully expect some people (who live on dingo's kidneys) to try and use this as proof there is no God.

 

Well I hope they have fun.

[Valin]

[logicnreason]

OK....now that we've god "in a bottle" (so to speak), what exactly are we going to do with him/her/it???

 

Inquiring minds want to know!!

[Valin]

OK....now that we've god "in a bottle" (so to speak), what exactly are we going to do with him/her/it???

 

Inquiring minds want to know!!

 

Always more questions. For example just what makes up a Higgs boson?

 

Now I'm not even going to pretend I understand this stuff (which puts me eight in 99% of the people walking the planet), but what I find interesting is apparently the farther down we look the finer the line becomes between the material and the metaphysical things become.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYfaOJATh_U

Fr. Spitzer will briefly discuss the contemporary Big Bang theory and its description of our universe. He will then examine the important question of whether or not our universe had a beginning implying a creation by a transcendent power. He will look specifically into evidence from space-time geometry proofs and from the second law of thermodynamics, and will try to make the language and concepts accessible to an audience who may not be familiar with physics. He will then examine five highly, highly improbable conditions of the universe which are necessary for life to be generated and survive. These so-called "anthropic coincidences" reveal a supernatural intelligence behind the universe's fine-tuning.....

 

 

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy"

Bill Shakespeare...dead white guy.

[Valin]