This, seen from a Christian point of view, may be the chief message to take away. But it does indicate that we live in a very cleverly set up universe! The term вЂњGod particleвЂќ was apparently introduced by a publisher to help sell a book physicists are not too keen on it, but journalists certainly seem to like it! It is at best a metaphor, and was never intended to be taken too literally. It was a historic occasion, because it showed that some very abstract mathematical theoretical ideas were apparently actually on the right track. The Higgs particle fits nicely into this theory, but if its properties are not quite what the theory predicts, then this may point us towards new things to look for.

There is a theory of elementary particles, known as the вЂњstandard modelвЂќ, which describes nearly everything we know at present, but which is believed not to be complete. But I should add a small caution вЂ“ what was found shows every indication of being the Higgs, but it will still be necessary to study the properties of the new particle in detail over the coming years to make sure that everything checks out.

The Higgs particle took so long to find because it is very heavy and not produced very often in high energy particle collisions. So, although it does not actually create the other particles, the Higgs particle does give them their different masses, and this makes it possible for atoms, molecules, stars, planets and life to exist! It has been called the вЂњGodвЂќ particle, a metaphor that does not please everyone, but which does have a certain degree of suitability given its crucial role in making the universe suitable for ordinary matter to exist, and in the end, life. (Nuclear particles such as protons do not directly rely on the Higgs for their mass, since it arises from the very strong nature of the nuclear force so that the quarks in the proton are confined to a very small volume of space and so have a high energy.) The mass of the electron makes it possible for atoms, as we know them, to form. An electron is relatively light because its interaction with the Higgs field is not very strong вЂ“ other particles have stronger interactions and are heavier. This effect slows them down and gives them their various masses, depending on how strongly the particles interact with the Higgs field. The Higgs particle is a manifestation of the вЂњHiggs fieldвЂќ, which pervades all of space and вЂњclingsвЂќ to all the other particles. Otherwise, they would be massless and travel always at the speed of light, which would make for a relatively dull universe. The goal was to provide a means by which the most elementary particles that make up the universe вЂ“ electrons, quarks and so on вЂ“ can have mass. The Higgs particle was thought up in the 1960вЂ™s, and the ideas were contributed by several theorists including Peter Higgs himself, who works at Edinburgh.

The discovery was twenty years in the making and involved very considerable sums of money and large teams of scientists and engineers from all over the world. It required a high energy proton accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, that generated proton beams with enough energy and intensity to produce this very massive object. On July 4, 2012, scientists at the European particle physics laboratory CERN, at Geneva, announced the observation of a new elementary particle which is probably the long-sought вЂњHiggs particleвЂќ. Likely discovery of the Higgs particle at CERNДr Peter Bussey, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow CiS committee member Rodney Holder shares his thought regardingВ the newest findings about the Higgs Boson.ДЄrticle on the Higgs Boson (pdf) (text below) by CiS member and elementary particle physicistВ Dr Peter Bussey, who outlines what the Higgs boson is and what its discovery means for Christians. Interview with Revd Dr Rodney Holder on Premier Radio. In response to recent findings about the Higgs Boson (or вЂњGod ParticleвЂќ) CiS have collected together one or two responses from our members:

Higgs boson particle