Nobel Prize Scientist

[Maggie/915]

Physicist Peter Higgs was born in Elswick and lived in Newcastle as a chid. He has won the

2013 Nobel prize in Physics for his work on what has become known as The God Particle.

He developed the theory with Francois Englert of Belgium who is the joint winner.

Page 11 The Journal today.

[threegee]

...what has become known as The God Particle...

Probably only in The Journal!

Correct me if I'm wrong but as I remember it he didn't "developed the theory with Francois Englert of Belgium". I think these were independent proposals for more or less the same thing - as happens so many times when the time is right. We all know about Charles Darwin but can anyone remember who Alfred Russel Wallace was?

Anyway... the Higgs Boson only exists as a statistical probability - we can't be 100% sure it exists. Lots of people seem to be convinced by the current odds; but if you'd spent going on for four billion pounds over several decades - and dug up two country's landscape - you'd be under a tiny bit of pressure to come up with some sort of result.

Will there be any practical benefit to this spend? Always difficult to say, but I think in the short to medium term we'd have been much wiser to put all those people and massive resources to work developing methods to control nuclear fusion. Not that we aren't spending heavily on that already of course...

http://www.bbc.co.uk...onment-23408073

If that one even puts us on the start of the path to pulling off practical controlled fusion, the engineers, construction workers, and even the tea ladies, all deserve a Nobel Prizes!

And finally:

Did you know that you can put your home computer(s) to work to help CERN? http://lhcathome.web.cern.ch/ When I last looked the Russians were well ahead, and UK home computers hadn't yet managed a prediction of the 3:30 @ Epsom!

[Malcolm Robinson]

I thought the HB had been 'discovered' last year?

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

[Maggie/915]

Long live controversy, and Threegee theories.

How about for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

[Malcolm Robinson]

Or we think there is so therefore there must be...........

[threegee]

I thought the HB had been 'discovered' last year?

http://www.bbc.co.uk...onment-24436781

More work will be needed to be certain that what they see is a Higgs, however.

My grandfather thought he'd once met Heisenberg - but he could never be certain about this.

The old ones are always the best!

[Symptoms]

Higgs was shown on Newsnight earlier in the week trying to explain what the thing was ... he couldn't! Anyway, old Heinz Wolff (remember him?) was interviewed by Paxo about it and gave a great explanation ... he said it was like a missing bit of Leggo in a block of lots of Leggo - in other words a HOLE. This hole was where the mass was. Obviously, I've simplified the explanation for our younger viewers - those identified this week as being near the bottom of the international '3Rs' list.

Find it here on the Beeb's iplayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03cp264/Newsnight_08_10_2013/

[Malcolm Robinson]

My grandfather thought he'd once met Heisenberg - but he could never be certain about this.

The old ones are always the best!

Was he uncertain?

[keith lockey]

I've yet to see one scientist explain - with any credulity - how or what Higgs Boson is. They all have a look of perplexity about them when they try to convey this God Particle.

[threegee]

Ah! Thing on Beeb radio last night which recounted how Francois Englert the Belgian "discoverer" of the HB is being lauded in Belgium, with little or no mention of Seignior Heegs!

It confirmed what I thought - the theories were sort of independently arrived at - and also pointed out that... umm... goodness, were they reading bedlington.co.uk theory of when the time is ripe things happen whatever? Or did the Beeb lady arrive at this theory independently?

[Malcolm Robinson]

Plagiarism, let's be after them……….