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.
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.
ReplyDeletethe origin of the term as 'goddamned particle'(by Lederman) really says it all. ..publishers rule!!
ReplyDeleteTrue, publishers rule, but what was wrong with something like "That Darn Particle". Seems closer to the meaning of goddamned particle.
ReplyDelete