Wednesday 14 December 2011

God Particle Myth



Yesterday news broke about the fact that scientist may now have discovered the “God Particle”. Watching Sky News and reading other reports, I frequently came across the term “God Particle”.

Strangely enough, in not one television interview that I watched, with the actual scientists, did I hear any of them use this term. Now, this may well be because, unlike most journalists, I have not been trained in the art of hearing what people want to say, even though they have not actually said it. In short, I am not psychic, as the journalists obviously appear to be! Or are they?

I was pleased when I read some reports later about the reactions of the scientists who are involved in the research. These scientists are, as I am, extremely frustrated at the journalists for reporting this as the discovery of the “God Particle”. Pauline Gagnon one of the scientists involved in the research said, “I hate that ‘God particle’ term.[1]

Oliver Buchmueller, another scientist, is reported as stating that, “Calling it the ‘God particle’ is completely inappropriate. It’s not doing justice to the Higgs and what we think its role in the universe is. It has nothing to do with God.[2]

Pippa Wells, another researcher, said, “Hearing it called the ‘God particle’ makes me angry.[3]

All Christians know that this particle, or any other possible particle that scientist could discover in the future, is not and will not be God. God is spirit, not a particle. We do not need scientists to confirm our belief in this regard. It is however comforting when scientists respond, as they did, to deny this terminology and the erroneous conclusions that the journalists have attempted to make.

Many journalists are of course, as we all know, far superior to the rest of us. They are not bound by any norms of society, evident by the phone hacking scandal. They really are such a truly amazing species. As another example, consider this response by one journalist to a scientist during the media briefing. The scientist, during the media briefing yesterday, said to the journalist, “We don’t call it the ‘God particle’, it’s just the media that do that.” The "obviously" "highly intellectual" and "wise" journalist responded emphatically: “Well, I am the from the media and I’m going to continue calling it that.

Need I say anymore?

By the way, the correct scientific term for the “God Particle” is in fact none other than the “Higgs Boson”. I included a link for any journalists who may not believe me.

3 comments:

  1. Apparently the term originated from a book in 1993 about the history of particle physics by US Nobel prize winner Leon M Lederman. The book was titled "The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question?". He actually wanted it to read: "The Goddamned Particle" but his publishers felt that it would cause a religious reaction. So they chose God instead of Goddamned. Go figure.

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  2. the origin of the term as 'goddamned particle'(by Lederman) really says it all. ..publishers rule!!

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  3. True, publishers rule, but what was wrong with something like "That Darn Particle". Seems closer to the meaning of goddamned particle.

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