DISCLAIMER: The fact that they call the Higgs Boson the "God Particle" does not mean that it has anything to do with God. I've seen lots of silly posts about how this discovery is somehow proof of God's existence. When they say God Particle, it's not like someone managed to bust off a chunk of God's toenail and take it to a lab to confirm its owner (as well as a partial DNA match to Jesus). It's just a very important particle.
For my first post, I'd like to talk about the Higgs Boson. It seemed a good choice, as it applies to two themes that will be pervasive in this blog; science, and lateness. I'm so far behind that major news outlets have gotten around to mentioning it even though it's an election year. While I don't really understand the so called "God Particle," I am at least aware of this. I am a fan of science, in the same way I am a fan of music. I find it fascinating and have some basic knowledge, but giving me access to the Large Hadron Collider could be even more dangerous than listening to me play guitar. I'll try to mention the basics though.
The Higgs Boson was proposed by a dude named Peter Higgs, and several other people not named Higgs at all. It is the tiniest (we're talking quantum mechanics, so REALLY, fucking tiny) excitation of the Higgs field, which shares the name of Peter Higgs by pure coincidence (not really). This field is what gives all particles mass. The fact that it gives other particles mass is one theory for why people took to calling it the "God Particle." This theory seems unlikely, since it's actually priests who give mass (Pope Particle would have been great, though I'd never be able to picture it without a funny hat).
The reason the particle is important is that it was the last particle proposed by the Standard Model of particle physics. It more or less means that the Standard Model has been proven to be accurate. Another theory behind calling it the "God Particle," is its significance in that respect. Instead of listing theories I could probably just look up whoever coined the term, and then ultimately dismiss their reasons in favor of my own. (I would do that, but I'm on a roll now.)
Personally, I thought the term "God Particle" fit, but is no longer apt, since they managed to observe it. It was some unobservable force that we determined was there because of phenomena we believed it to have caused. While evidence told us something was giving particles mass, we couldn't actually observe the elusive Higgs Boson. We took its existence on faith (and a whole lot of very detailed scientific data that left few other explanations for the way other particles behave). That all sounds pretty god-like to me.
The problem now is that its discovery has stripped away, or at least diminished all of those qualities. We've stopped calling the sun Apollo's chariot, and we know that it's just one of millions of stars, and a particularly mediocre one at that. Like a stripper without black lights, an observable Higgs Boson loses a great deal of its charm. Don't get me wrong, it's still pretty cool as particles go. It was just a lot more fun to try to observe the little bugger when no one else had yet.
But that's the way science goes. There are big discoveries and little ones. In years to come physicists will learn more about the Higgs Boson, but the huge discovery is passed. Fortunately though, in a universe as vast as ours, there will be a new "God Particle," some new pinnacle to strive for. There probably already is, but we just won't hear about it on the news until this election nonsense is over; longer if another celebrity dies.
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