Higgs boson scientists win Nobel prize in physics

[Jaygray]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24436781

[mistermack]

Peter Higgs, from the UK, and Francois Englert from Belgium, shared the prize.

So Higgs and Englert get a prize, and Boson walks away with nothing?

Bloody typical. It's not what you know, . . . .

[cronus]

They didn't discover anything special. Apparently these Higgs-Bosons are everywhere, so why the prize?

[Svartalf]

That went fast after the latest CERN discoveries.

[Audley Strange]

Wow so if I hypothesise a green winged giraffe, the guys who spend all the time effort and money to discover it get shit? How very nobel prize.

[mistermack]

Wow so if I hypothesise a green winged giraffe, the guys who spend all the time effort and money to discover it get shit? How very nobel prize.

You make it sound easy, but it wasn't just pulling stuff from the air. It was finding the answer to a problem that was fundamental to particle physics at the cutting edge. It was a problem that was looking like it was insoluble, that the standard model was possibly wrong, and people were going to have to start again.
If they hadn't found the answer, nobody was going to look for the proof, were they?

From what I have read about Higgs, there's a lot to like about the guy. Apart from the fact that he looks like a bishop.
I don't understand how it came to be called the Higgs field and the Higgs boson though. There were more than him working on it. It seems that someone started calling it that, and it caught on. It was never officially decided to call it that.

Apparently he doesn't like the term '' god particle '', and actually, that nickname came from the publisher of a book, and the original title of the book was '' hunting the goddam particle ''. The publisher thought that ''god'' particle was more catchy.

[Audley Strange]

I was taking the piss, I woke up on the right side of the bed. Of course its an achievement but I do think the guys who discovered he was right. After all if they had not he'd have won nothing. Still nice to see he's a humble chap old Boson Higgs.

[JimC]

Old "figs" bosun was on the good ship Venus, as I recall...

[cronus]

Chances are they didn't discover the higgs but discovered something else where the higgs was supposed to be.

[mistermack]

I'm old enough to remember the trouble they had finding Ronnie Biggs, the great train robber.

They finally tracked him down in Brazil. Maybe they should have looked there first, instead of spending all that money on a gigantic hardon-basher.

[Clinton Huxley]

They probably had to give him the Nobel. The experimentalists wouldn't have know there was even anything to look for without Higgs and the rest. And he's getting on a bit, embarassing for the Nobel committee if he expires unrewarded.

[cronus]

They probably had to give him the Nobel. The experimentalists wouldn't have know there was even anything to look for without Higgs and the rest. And he's getting on a bit, embarassing for the Nobel committee if he expires unrewarded.

I can guess someone somewhere will win the lottery. Does that mean I should take the winnings for this weeks winner?

[Clinton Huxley]

They probably had to give him the Nobel. The experimentalists wouldn't have know there was even anything to look for without Higgs and the rest. And he's getting on a bit, embarassing for the Nobel committee if he expires unrewarded.

I can guess someone somewhere will win the lottery. Does that mean I should take the winnings for this weeks winner?

That would be a good analogy, if it were a good analogy.....

[mistermack]

They probably had to give him the Nobel. The experimentalists wouldn't have know there was even anything to look for without Higgs and the rest. And he's getting on a bit, embarassing for the Nobel committee if he expires unrewarded.

I can guess someone somewhere will win the lottery. Does that mean I should take the winnings for this weeks winner?

If you worked out the winning number in advance, then yes, you can have the money. You deserve it. Best to buy a ticket though.