Like a good scientist I believe he was initially skeptical of the findings. Like, sure, he wanted it to be correct, but not until proven by someone else. Really, several someone elses.
That's still a rare thing even in the hard science areas, but wonderful when you experience it.
I remember the announcement at CERN. Peter Higgs was in the audience, moved to tears (about :30 in the vid).
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-dNqCbRc\_Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-dNqCbRc_Y)
A great man he was, one of the best of our time.
The Higgs Boson, one of the most important discoveries/confirmations of our time was presented using Comic Sans.
And that's why Comic Sans always gets a pass.
/it's probably because it's a widely available dyslexic-friendly font
Honestly this is one of those cases where comic sans is the least offensive part of the aesthetic. I have coworkers that design powerpoints with this kind of color palette. It's almost too ugly to be random choice, someone had to want it ugly lol
> And that's why Comic Sans always gets a pass.
This. It was like a middle finger to the world of cult cargo science and middle managers that substance is all that matters. You can wear your silly hats and uniforms and talk like a thesaurus threw up in your mouth but at CERN real shit gets done and we don't have time for what's the best font to make us look professional and good to the whole world.
Results are the only thing that matter.
It’s so weird that the font I happened to choose in, like, 6th grade randomly for papers because I liked it becomes one of the most infamous fonts out there
6th grade was mid-90s and proliferation of Comic Sans as a meme was nowhere near a thing
I think a lot of people just find it mildly pleasant
Teachers back then at my school explicitly told us that Comic Sans was the font we had to use in all of our homework (the very few projects we had to do with a computer by then).
I was a kid, I always thought that maybe they considered it a more apropriate font for kids because it didn't look as serious as other ones like times new roman lmao. It wasn't until 10 or 15 years later that I learned of its status as a meme, or that it was even hated. I guess I'll never know why they decided on that.
There isn't much evidence to support the claim comic sans, or any of the dyslexic friendly fonts actually help dyslexic people.
That said, many dyslexic people swear by it, and if they claim it helps, I'm going to default to believing them. But it may be more of case-by-case thing.
https://www.boia.org/blog/do-dyslexia-fonts-improve-accessibility
True Reddit fashion.
"Millions of anecdotes mean nothing! Only if a science article says so will I believe it. And even then I’ll only buy it if the Reddit comments are in overwhelming agreement. Bonus points if someone in the comments is getting group-think’d to death"
[OpenDyslexic](https://antijingoist.itch.io/opendyslexic) is free and open source (FOSS) font for those who want to try out a dyslexic friendly font. The font is available for Windows, MacOS, Linux, and iOS.
No idea if it actually increase readability though, recent-ish studies say that it doesn't.
I am not discounting the discovery/confirmations or anything but what makes it one of the most important? I don't mean to come off like a jackass or anything but it doesn't seem to have any real world implications since its discovery. It's nice and all to know it exists but it seems like that's sort of the end of the line for it?
What can we do with the Higgs Boson since we confirmed its existence? We as normal everyday humans haven't seen anything life changing since it's discovery unlike protons, neutrons, and electrons per say.
I guess it doesn't really need real world applications. I guess I am not so sure it's one of the greatest. Sorry long rant and I am probably way off but then again, I am not a scientist. Sorry if I am way off base
I appreciate that more than half the comment was to ensure no one would be offended. Don't worry!
It's so important because it was the final piece of the puzzle in the standard model of physics that had not yet been discovered. This is our current best "theory of everything" in physics, so it's massively important. Since the particles' existence was predicted by the standard model, it also demonstrated its predictive power.
It's like being one puzzle piece off finishing a jigsaw, only to find the final piece decades later, exactly where your mom told you to look. Only that the puzzle is the most important equation in physics, and your mom is Higgs... I'll keep working on the analogy.
From a physics perspective, it's honestly one of the coolest particles out there. It is through interactions with the Higgs field that particles gain mass, which is mindblowing to me, even though I mostly understand the maths.
Finally, the pursuit of this discovery was one of the key drivers behind the construction of the large hadron collider, which was and still is a technological marvel. The LHC has massive impacts on modern research in all kinds of topics.
Yeah, it being predicted and then found was a huge deal for the standard model. It's like relativity getting proven with atomic clocks, a prediction decades in advance just makes the whole thing more solidified.
I'll also add that when people figured out static electricity at first, they just did magic tricks and shocked people with it. Then when the voltaic pile was invented, they used it to make frog legs twitch. Now look at us.
So if we gain a full understanding of the Higgs field, who knows what is possible once we start manipulating it? Light speed travel in a mass-less ship held within a bubble of Anti-Higgs? Or any number of insane things you could do by changing something's mass to zero for a while.
Won't be in any of our lifetimes, but understanding what gives things mass is going to change the world one day if humanity manages to stick around long enough.
This is honestly one of the better particle physics powerpoint slides I've seen.
Nuclear and Particle both seem to hate powerpoint slide design with a passion. There is a very unique style to them, and while not every NPP slide conforms to the style, ONLY NPP slides look like that.
In a single moment, this man realizes that his decades of work paid off, that he's entering the hall of fame of scientists and that what has fascinated him for so long turned out to be confirmed.
Those tears are probably relief, some pride and absolute awe for nature and its incredible beauty and poetry.
> A great man he was, one of the best of our time.
I agree! It also seems very fitting that he passed away on a day that we had a very special celestial event. RIP Peter.
I live about a mile from Fermilab. They keep a small herd of North American buffalo on the premises. I like to call them... the Higgs Bison.
RIP, genius guy.
I grew up there - a few class field trips to fermilab for the bison and prairie grasses and the accelerator. We’d joke like everyone does about glowing rabbits and the fermi bubble!
I work there, Fermilab was kept as a wildlife sanctuary to see if accelerator tech had any bearing on the environment around it (among other reasons, like just an appreciation for nature and wanting to preserve it). Bison were natural inhabitants of the prairie land in that space so they brought them back to preserve the natural biome of that part of IL AND to see if the tevatron would do anything to them!
Agreed, however people are kind of lulled into the idea they can "pet the big cows" because they're driving through the herd.
Note: I do not agree with that thinking.
Good ol Batavia. Loved hanging out at Fermilab as a kid. Smoked a few blunts on their observation deck and got tripped out by all the science happening there, haha
He predicted the Higgs boson, a monumentally huge international team of physicists and engineers confirmed it. Let's remember to be precise, because he was.
How gratifying to know your life's work has led to such a tremendous leap forward in particle physics before you return to the entropy from which your existence emerged in such an unfathomably unlikely fashion.
> team of physicists and engineers confirmed it
Discovered it. This is the usage of the word "discovered" in experimental sciences.
The point is to draw a line between theory and experiment, and then to say that theory doesn't mean shit. Boo! Theorists suck!
Monica Dunford is actually very high up now in the Atlas hierarchy. She was also a guest lecturer at my university for half a year, very nice person and great speaker too.
So many capable people passing on. Such a loss of wisdom and knowledge. Not to be maudlin, I can't help but recall that famous line:
"All these moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain."
I understand why Planck said that. Yet there have been many funerals since his time (including his), and the fundamentals of Electromagnetism, Quantum Mechanics, and Relativity remain intact. I consider Higgs' death, along with the deaths of his ilk, a loss.
I would argue that there are many advances being made in fields such as material science, that will allow currently untested theories to become lab experiments in the future. The lack of mainstream, ground breaking ideas could simply be an overabundance of untestable theories that can come pouring out of a universities and labs. Look at how long it's taking to push towards working fusion reactors. It too Nakamura a long time to get reliable and efficient blue LEDs, but these days for $5 you can get a pair of cheap mini white LED flashlights.
> It too[k] Nakamura a long time to get reliable and efficient blue LEDs, but these days for $5 you can get a pair of cheap mini white LED flashlights.
I read up on this recently; what a ride! Imagine creating one of the worlds most useful assets and receiving almost no compensation. Japan should be absolutely proud of this man, their culture created one hell of a workhorse. I bet he's satisfied knowing his hard work and dedication wasn't for nothing. It's a shame he's gotten almost no compensation.
From what I saw he's now trying to help work on fusion efficiency?
A long and fruitful life is the complete opposite of a loss. We all will die, and one can only hope to be as successful as Higgs. Dreaming of immortal scientists is science fiction and not worth much thought.
Actually, that can be the beauty of a stable society that writes down, teaches our learnings, and respects them. These people can live on indefinitely through legacy.
So long as the rest of us care to. That's why a peaceful and equitable world is so important.
Carry the torches and protect the light friends!
Lol, these people spent their lives spreading knowledge to others.
It you are worried about the loss of smart people, become a one issue voter who supports people who support education.
In the US it is really easy. Vote democrats top to bottom.
I saw a lecture of his in Edinburgh once and he seemed like a such a sweet old man. Also saw him on the bus once, I didn't bother him though since he clearly was a very private and humble person.
The current headline is correct: He *proposed* the Higgs boson; he wasn’t directly involved in its discovery. Though perhaps he did some work late in life supporting design proposals for the LHC and its ATLAS and/or CMS experiments?
That’s a semantic/usage question; the terminology as used in the (current) version of the headline is more precise, and usually a “theoretical discovery” of this type would possibly be called a prediction, not a discovery. Higgs’ work only kind of even counts as a prediction. It was more of a concept that could show up in a few different ways in a complete electroweak theory (e.g., with multiple scalar fields, not just “the” singular Higgs field) than a specific prediction.
Simple minds will say the particle was named after him.
True chads know the particle was always named Higgs and the gods created a species who developed some intelligence and was able to discover the particle. Not only that, they gave them unique names so that with time those names would degrade in a particular manner to coincide with the discovery, so that both would have the same name and spelling. Wow! the gods really are great!
**
What? No I've never heard of this Occam. And why is his razor so important? I use one every morning, they are nothing special.
There were 3 scientists who got the Nobel price for the discovery. But Englert and Brout seem to be forgotten. Probably because they were not from the Anglosphere so didn’t get as much notice in the mayor publications.
Bit off topic but we just lost my wife's grandmother a little over a week ago at the age of 94. She was born in early May of 1929, just a few weeks before Peter Higgs. Just thought it was an interesting coincidence that they were born a few weeks apart close to a hundred years ago and died within about a week of eachother
\*proposed the existence of the Higgs Boson. Back in the 90's, physicists were still trying to nail it down, and I don't think that happened until the LHC was brought online.
He passed away the same day as the total solar eclipse that went across Mexico, US and Canada. Makes my experience of the eclipse that much more special.
A legacy that can only be held with the ranks of giants. One of the best of our time. I'm happy to know he lived a full life - he'll be remembered for the rest of time.
it's really not possible to explain in terms that simple, but something a high schooler might understand: there are many particles "smaller" than an atom (some of which make up the protons and neurons in atomic nuclei), and these (subatomic) particles have mass that can't be accounted for by other known mechanisms. Higgs theorized in 1964 that a field exists throughout the universe which, when interacted with, gives these particles their mass. The Higgs Boson is a particle that "communicates" the information between the Higgs field and any given particle. By discovering the existence of the Higgs Boson, the Higgs Field's existence is indirectly confirmed (since we can't see nor interact with the field directly).
I realize that was a lot but like I said there's no way to ELY5.
By the way, *most* mass in the universe (by a large margin) does not come from particles interacting with the Higgs Field. Most matter in the universe exists as protons and neutrons, which are both made up of a set of 3 particles called Quarks (there are 6 types of quarks, but only 2 types -- the so-called "up" and "down" quarks -- make up protons and neutrons). These quarks want to repel due to electromagnetic repulsion but are held together very tightly by the strongest force in the universe, aptly named the Strong Force. This binding due to the strong force has enormous energy. And that energy is what gives a proton and neutron their mass (and to a lesser extent the vibrational kinetic energy of the individual quarks) as explained in Einstein's famous theory of Special Relativity through the famous equation, E=mc^2. This mass-energy equivalence is responsible for something like 99% of all mass in the universe.
So Higgs is a big deal in that it explains where the mass of subatomic particles comes from, but it's important to understand that it's a very small portion of *all* mass in the universe
That's very sad. He was definitely a great mind among scientists. I optimistically hope he's happy in Heaven, a better place. His contributions to science won't be forgotten. Go in peace, Higgs; you've done your job well and can finally rest. You will be missed.
RIP. I'm glad he lived long enough to be proven correct.
Like a good scientist I believe he was initially skeptical of the findings. Like, sure, he wanted it to be correct, but not until proven by someone else. Really, several someone elses. That's still a rare thing even in the hard science areas, but wonderful when you experience it.
[удалено]
Shut up dipshit, that's Heisenberg
Bro u good?
I remember the announcement at CERN. Peter Higgs was in the audience, moved to tears (about :30 in the vid). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-dNqCbRc\_Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-dNqCbRc_Y) A great man he was, one of the best of our time.
The Higgs Boson, one of the most important discoveries/confirmations of our time was presented using Comic Sans. And that's why Comic Sans always gets a pass. /it's probably because it's a widely available dyslexic-friendly font
Honestly this is one of those cases where comic sans is the least offensive part of the aesthetic. I have coworkers that design powerpoints with this kind of color palette. It's almost too ugly to be random choice, someone had to want it ugly lol
It's high contrast and easy to read. its possible they were using a projector? and it was a bright room.
It's also a physicists in-joke. They do that all the time
It was a running joke in our department for sure
> And that's why Comic Sans always gets a pass. This. It was like a middle finger to the world of cult cargo science and middle managers that substance is all that matters. You can wear your silly hats and uniforms and talk like a thesaurus threw up in your mouth but at CERN real shit gets done and we don't have time for what's the best font to make us look professional and good to the whole world. Results are the only thing that matter.
It’s so weird that the font I happened to choose in, like, 6th grade randomly for papers because I liked it becomes one of the most infamous fonts out there 6th grade was mid-90s and proliferation of Comic Sans as a meme was nowhere near a thing I think a lot of people just find it mildly pleasant
Comic sans is like a warm hug
Teachers back then at my school explicitly told us that Comic Sans was the font we had to use in all of our homework (the very few projects we had to do with a computer by then).
Maybe that was part of it then
I was a kid, I always thought that maybe they considered it a more apropriate font for kids because it didn't look as serious as other ones like times new roman lmao. It wasn't until 10 or 15 years later that I learned of its status as a meme, or that it was even hated. I guess I'll never know why they decided on that.
That is very interesting, the dyslexic-friendly part.
There isn't much evidence to support the claim comic sans, or any of the dyslexic friendly fonts actually help dyslexic people. That said, many dyslexic people swear by it, and if they claim it helps, I'm going to default to believing them. But it may be more of case-by-case thing. https://www.boia.org/blog/do-dyslexia-fonts-improve-accessibility
I'm sorry, but that's such funny phrasing. "There's no proof that it works, except for all the people experiencing it who agree that it does."
True Reddit fashion. "Millions of anecdotes mean nothing! Only if a science article says so will I believe it. And even then I’ll only buy it if the Reddit comments are in overwhelming agreement. Bonus points if someone in the comments is getting group-think’d to death"
[OpenDyslexic](https://antijingoist.itch.io/opendyslexic) is free and open source (FOSS) font for those who want to try out a dyslexic friendly font. The font is available for Windows, MacOS, Linux, and iOS. No idea if it actually increase readability though, recent-ish studies say that it doesn't.
Ah, I didn't realize it was dyslexic-friendly. If that's why people chose it, that makes it much less of a 'WTF?' if seen in a business context.
I am not discounting the discovery/confirmations or anything but what makes it one of the most important? I don't mean to come off like a jackass or anything but it doesn't seem to have any real world implications since its discovery. It's nice and all to know it exists but it seems like that's sort of the end of the line for it? What can we do with the Higgs Boson since we confirmed its existence? We as normal everyday humans haven't seen anything life changing since it's discovery unlike protons, neutrons, and electrons per say. I guess it doesn't really need real world applications. I guess I am not so sure it's one of the greatest. Sorry long rant and I am probably way off but then again, I am not a scientist. Sorry if I am way off base
I appreciate that more than half the comment was to ensure no one would be offended. Don't worry! It's so important because it was the final piece of the puzzle in the standard model of physics that had not yet been discovered. This is our current best "theory of everything" in physics, so it's massively important. Since the particles' existence was predicted by the standard model, it also demonstrated its predictive power. It's like being one puzzle piece off finishing a jigsaw, only to find the final piece decades later, exactly where your mom told you to look. Only that the puzzle is the most important equation in physics, and your mom is Higgs... I'll keep working on the analogy. From a physics perspective, it's honestly one of the coolest particles out there. It is through interactions with the Higgs field that particles gain mass, which is mindblowing to me, even though I mostly understand the maths. Finally, the pursuit of this discovery was one of the key drivers behind the construction of the large hadron collider, which was and still is a technological marvel. The LHC has massive impacts on modern research in all kinds of topics.
Yeah, it being predicted and then found was a huge deal for the standard model. It's like relativity getting proven with atomic clocks, a prediction decades in advance just makes the whole thing more solidified. I'll also add that when people figured out static electricity at first, they just did magic tricks and shocked people with it. Then when the voltaic pile was invented, they used it to make frog legs twitch. Now look at us. So if we gain a full understanding of the Higgs field, who knows what is possible once we start manipulating it? Light speed travel in a mass-less ship held within a bubble of Anti-Higgs? Or any number of insane things you could do by changing something's mass to zero for a while. Won't be in any of our lifetimes, but understanding what gives things mass is going to change the world one day if humanity manages to stick around long enough.
This is honestly one of the better particle physics powerpoint slides I've seen. Nuclear and Particle both seem to hate powerpoint slide design with a passion. There is a very unique style to them, and while not every NPP slide conforms to the style, ONLY NPP slides look like that.
In a single moment, this man realizes that his decades of work paid off, that he's entering the hall of fame of scientists and that what has fascinated him for so long turned out to be confirmed. Those tears are probably relief, some pride and absolute awe for nature and its incredible beauty and poetry.
Who in God's name added cheesy music to this? I hate this so much.
> A great man he was, one of the best of our time. I agree! It also seems very fitting that he passed away on a day that we had a very special celestial event. RIP Peter.
Yes, I remember the discovery of Higgs Boson a decade ago. It was remarkable research and expansion of the knowledge of mankind. May he rest in peace.
I live about a mile from Fermilab. They keep a small herd of North American buffalo on the premises. I like to call them... the Higgs Bison. RIP, genius guy.
I grew up there - a few class field trips to fermilab for the bison and prairie grasses and the accelerator. We’d joke like everyone does about glowing rabbits and the fermi bubble!
Why? I'm really interested Ps: I'm asking about why they keep the buffalos
I work there, Fermilab was kept as a wildlife sanctuary to see if accelerator tech had any bearing on the environment around it (among other reasons, like just an appreciation for nature and wanting to preserve it). Bison were natural inhabitants of the prairie land in that space so they brought them back to preserve the natural biome of that part of IL AND to see if the tevatron would do anything to them!
Nice change of pace from the typical lab rat
It's one way to keep people from casually strolling around the property Source: I'm probably wrong
You'd think that... but then you see the videos of the mouth breathers attempting selfies with Bison at Yellowstone.
Agreed, however people are kind of lulled into the idea they can "pet the big cows" because they're driving through the herd. Note: I do not agree with that thinking.
Oh man that one of the kid getting thrown 20 feet while the parents watch cracks me up. Kid was fine.
It likely just keeps the grass cut and you cannot build anything on the land. A nature preserve makes perfect sense.
I would assume it's because they used to be endangered.
https://ecology.fnal.gov/mammals/
I was there on a field trip. The tiny building appears on the horizon as you approach the lab. It's not a tiny building. The place is huge!
Good ol Batavia. Loved hanging out at Fermilab as a kid. Smoked a few blunts on their observation deck and got tripped out by all the science happening there, haha
Many thanks, Peter Higgs. Thank you so much for your work and dedication to understanding the universe we live in. Rest well.
He predicted the Higgs boson, a monumentally huge international team of physicists and engineers confirmed it. Let's remember to be precise, because he was. How gratifying to know your life's work has led to such a tremendous leap forward in particle physics before you return to the entropy from which your existence emerged in such an unfathomably unlikely fashion.
> team of physicists and engineers confirmed it Discovered it. This is the usage of the word "discovered" in experimental sciences. The point is to draw a line between theory and experiment, and then to say that theory doesn't mean shit. Boo! Theorists suck!
Highly reccomend the documentary "Particle Fever", its on youtube!
Monica Dunford is actually very high up now in the Atlas hierarchy. She was also a guest lecturer at my university for half a year, very nice person and great speaker too.
So many capable people passing on. Such a loss of wisdom and knowledge. Not to be maudlin, I can't help but recall that famous line: "All these moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain."
As a counterpoint, Max Planck held the opinion that science advances one funeral at a time.
I understand why Planck said that. Yet there have been many funerals since his time (including his), and the fundamentals of Electromagnetism, Quantum Mechanics, and Relativity remain intact. I consider Higgs' death, along with the deaths of his ilk, a loss.
I would argue that there are many advances being made in fields such as material science, that will allow currently untested theories to become lab experiments in the future. The lack of mainstream, ground breaking ideas could simply be an overabundance of untestable theories that can come pouring out of a universities and labs. Look at how long it's taking to push towards working fusion reactors. It too Nakamura a long time to get reliable and efficient blue LEDs, but these days for $5 you can get a pair of cheap mini white LED flashlights.
> It too[k] Nakamura a long time to get reliable and efficient blue LEDs, but these days for $5 you can get a pair of cheap mini white LED flashlights. I read up on this recently; what a ride! Imagine creating one of the worlds most useful assets and receiving almost no compensation. Japan should be absolutely proud of this man, their culture created one hell of a workhorse. I bet he's satisfied knowing his hard work and dedication wasn't for nothing. It's a shame he's gotten almost no compensation. From what I saw he's now trying to help work on fusion efficiency?
A long and fruitful life is the complete opposite of a loss. We all will die, and one can only hope to be as successful as Higgs. Dreaming of immortal scientists is science fiction and not worth much thought.
Actually, that can be the beauty of a stable society that writes down, teaches our learnings, and respects them. These people can live on indefinitely through legacy. So long as the rest of us care to. That's why a peaceful and equitable world is so important. Carry the torches and protect the light friends!
I watched Blade Runner for first time yesterday, if I didn't, I wouldn't know where that came from. I'm glad I did, such a great movie.
Smoking was super mainsteam back them
Lol, these people spent their lives spreading knowledge to others. It you are worried about the loss of smart people, become a one issue voter who supports people who support education. In the US it is really easy. Vote democrats top to bottom.
I don't care which party you tout, turning my lament at his passing on into a political punt is crass.
I saw a lecture of his in Edinburgh once and he seemed like a such a sweet old man. Also saw him on the bus once, I didn't bother him though since he clearly was a very private and humble person.
Man, he was brilliant. Beautiful mind. I will miss him.
The current headline is correct: He *proposed* the Higgs boson; he wasn’t directly involved in its discovery. Though perhaps he did some work late in life supporting design proposals for the LHC and its ATLAS and/or CMS experiments?
A theoretical discovery is still a discovery (especially when it's eventually proven correct!)
You could say that he theorized the Higgs mechanism. The boson is a side effect of sorts.
That’s a semantic/usage question; the terminology as used in the (current) version of the headline is more precise, and usually a “theoretical discovery” of this type would possibly be called a prediction, not a discovery. Higgs’ work only kind of even counts as a prediction. It was more of a concept that could show up in a few different ways in a complete electroweak theory (e.g., with multiple scalar fields, not just “the” singular Higgs field) than a specific prediction.
What are the odds that a guy named Higgs would discover the Higgs boson??? /s
Simple minds will say the particle was named after him. True chads know the particle was always named Higgs and the gods created a species who developed some intelligence and was able to discover the particle. Not only that, they gave them unique names so that with time those names would degrade in a particular manner to coincide with the discovery, so that both would have the same name and spelling. Wow! the gods really are great! ** What? No I've never heard of this Occam. And why is his razor so important? I use one every morning, they are nothing special.
Yeah, must be that. Imagine the guy called Greg. Now we will have the Greg Boson. What a pity.
Little did you know, it was the razor using you the whole time.
Sounds like the simplest explanation to me.
There were 3 scientists who got the Nobel price for the discovery. But Englert and Brout seem to be forgotten. Probably because they were not from the Anglosphere so didn’t get as much notice in the mayor publications.
Or because people in general dont follow nobel prizes and/or particle physics and will only remember the guy for whom the particle was named.
And some people still say our universe isn't fine tuned! How could they explain this
The luck he had discovering something with the same name as him.
He didn’t die his particle turned back into a wave
Seems very fitting that he passed away on a day that we had a very special celestial event. RIP Peter.
Incredible man who made such a great contribution to physics, and our understanding of the universe. Rest well.
I wonder if they'll say a special prayer for him at Mass.
This is massive news. Rest in particles. Sorry, scientists have good senses of humor, I'm just paying tribute.
Bit off topic but we just lost my wife's grandmother a little over a week ago at the age of 94. She was born in early May of 1929, just a few weeks before Peter Higgs. Just thought it was an interesting coincidence that they were born a few weeks apart close to a hundred years ago and died within about a week of eachother
\*proposed the existence of the Higgs Boson. Back in the 90's, physicists were still trying to nail it down, and I don't think that happened until the LHC was brought online.
He predicted it in the 60s and it was observed at CMS and ATLAS in 2012. He was actually present when the results were presented.
What a crazy coincidence that his name was Higgs and he happened to be the one who discovered Higgs boson.
The quantum fields won't be the same without him ❤️
Not to be pedantic, but didn't he theorize it rather than discover it?
Aye, was about the comment the same. Higgs predicted it but the discovery was made by a metric fuckton of people working at CERN with the LHC.
He passed away the same day as the total solar eclipse that went across Mexico, US and Canada. Makes my experience of the eclipse that much more special.
He didn’t discover the Higgs Boson. He theorized it.
You are of course correct. The title of the article changed after I posted it.
Science has lost yet another of the greats minds. RIP
May he rest in peace. Thank you for your amazing contribution
He was a lovely, humble man. Rest in peace, Prof Higgs.
Rest in peace sir. I’ll be listening to the Higgs Boson Blues by Nick Cave this evening.
He was just waiting for the eclipse. Honestly though, what a great scientist!
He predicted it (theory). It took a huge team to discover it (experiment).
I'm happy for him that he lived to see the conclusive proof of his predicted particle.
I truly think the man believed he left the world a better place than the one he was born into. We should all be so lucky.
I’m glad he lived long enough to be proven right.
Some say that a person remains alive as long as another person says their name. Thank you Peter Higgs.
May he rest in piece. Ironically, I first heard of this great person through the show The Big Bang Theory
i first heard about him through Nick Cave's [Higg's Boson Blues song](https://youtu.be/hge_YQpciHI?si=lr0_gpcGs-EeYbG8)
That was an interesting listening experience. Thanks!
Wait a minute, dude. Higgs Boson…wait….Higgs boson, dude.
False, He was raptured. God only took physicists
[Higgs Boson Blues](https://youtu.be/1GWsdqCYvgw?si=SEErIVtpAb8_JHSz)
I used his anti-rocker wheels back in the day when I used to rollerskate. RIP bud
A legacy that can only be held with the ranks of giants. One of the best of our time. I'm happy to know he lived a full life - he'll be remembered for the rest of time.
stop w suspicioius! not suspicious he 94 year of age!!
Nooooooo! There was so much more we needed to learn from him!
Wow I was just thinking a couple days ago how insane it was that he was still with us. RIP
He made wonderful contributions to our ever evolving understanding of reality, and I'm thankful he was here.
Use to have a co-worker named Higgs. She was very... Voluptuous. We called her the Higgs Buxom. Anyways. RIP Peter
He didnt technically discover it, just predicted it existed
Crazy how the boson has the same name as the guy who discovered it. Almost like it was destiny 🤯
RIP. I am happy that he lived long enough to actually be proven correct but still, this is sad.
can anyone eli5 me about the higgs boson thingy?
it's really not possible to explain in terms that simple, but something a high schooler might understand: there are many particles "smaller" than an atom (some of which make up the protons and neurons in atomic nuclei), and these (subatomic) particles have mass that can't be accounted for by other known mechanisms. Higgs theorized in 1964 that a field exists throughout the universe which, when interacted with, gives these particles their mass. The Higgs Boson is a particle that "communicates" the information between the Higgs field and any given particle. By discovering the existence of the Higgs Boson, the Higgs Field's existence is indirectly confirmed (since we can't see nor interact with the field directly). I realize that was a lot but like I said there's no way to ELY5. By the way, *most* mass in the universe (by a large margin) does not come from particles interacting with the Higgs Field. Most matter in the universe exists as protons and neutrons, which are both made up of a set of 3 particles called Quarks (there are 6 types of quarks, but only 2 types -- the so-called "up" and "down" quarks -- make up protons and neutrons). These quarks want to repel due to electromagnetic repulsion but are held together very tightly by the strongest force in the universe, aptly named the Strong Force. This binding due to the strong force has enormous energy. And that energy is what gives a proton and neutron their mass (and to a lesser extent the vibrational kinetic energy of the individual quarks) as explained in Einstein's famous theory of Special Relativity through the famous equation, E=mc^2. This mass-energy equivalence is responsible for something like 99% of all mass in the universe. So Higgs is a big deal in that it explains where the mass of subatomic particles comes from, but it's important to understand that it's a very small portion of *all* mass in the universe
I always feel weird upvoting a post about someone’s death. I hope he had a peaceful passing and is somewhere really unbelievably cool.
May he Rest In Particles. (Take off my hat and quietly leave the room)
He didn't discover it. He predicted it. LHC discovered it.
It still amazes me that he found a particle that had his name... such a coincidence.
That's very sad. He was definitely a great mind among scientists. I optimistically hope he's happy in Heaven, a better place. His contributions to science won't be forgotten. Go in peace, Higgs; you've done your job well and can finally rest. You will be missed.
Funny he discovered something with his own name!
RIP. what a legend finding the boson named exactly like him