Professor Themis Bowcock, Head of Particle Physics at the University of Liverpool, reflects on the momentous discovery of the Higgs Boson particle.
Professor Bowcock, and his team, played a key role in the construction of the instruments and the analysis of the data used to confirm the find, and here he assesses its impact for life, the universe and particle physics.
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Peter Cooke is Engineering and Project Manager at the University’s Physics Workshop. Peter and his team were responsible for physically constructing many of the components found in the instruments used to detect the Higgs Boson particle.
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Professor Bowcock says it all. This is one of the greatest discoveries of science, ranking alongside those which underpin what we all experience in daily life thanks to the benefits of science.
The only thing that we physicists would like in the immediate future is that BBC journalists, even very eminent ones such as Jeremy Paxman, would learn to call it the Higgs boson, and not the “Higgs boatswain” (pronounced “bosun”). Come and visit us any time, Jeremy, and you’ll see that we are more than just Higgs coxswains!
Congratulations to everyone everywhere who has contributed to this huge and momentous discovery. Everyone should be very proud of their achievement. Being a physicist means that once in a while one can make history, and history that will always matter.