It’s official: two teams at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced today the long-awaited discovery of a new particle that fits the characteristics of the Higgs boson, also known as the ‘God’ particle. As the most sought after particle in physics, the elusive Higgs boson has long been a critical element of the Standard Model– a collection of theories that explain why mass lends itself to matter and helps explains the fundamental forces in the universe.
CERN scientists roared in applause over the announcement, which was a result of years of experiments using the Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator on the Swiss-French border used to smash atoms together in order to reveal smaller elements. On the other hand, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking was a bit more contrite, saying the discovery lost him $100.
In honor of this monumental discovery, take a look at a few FORA.tv programs that help explain the processes of the Large Hadron Collider in more detail and expand on why the potential discovery of the Higgs boson is so important to physics.
Frank Wilczek – Creating a Unified Field Theory from on FORA.tv
Robbert Dijkgraaf: The End of Space and Time? from Gresham College and Gresham College on FORA.tv
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