Scientists in Switzerland have proven the existence of what many believe is the heretofore theorized Higgs Boson subatomic particle. An NPR interview reveals why so many physicists hate the name "God Particle."
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
And now to a little more about that man, the Higgs behind the Higgs boson - Peter Higgs. As we just heard, Higgs and his team proposed the existence of the so-called "God particle" back in the 1960s. I'm joined now by Victoria Martin, who is a lecturer in physics and astronomy at the University of Edinburgh. She has studied with Peter Higgs and worked with him at CERN. Welcome to the program...
SIEGEL:
I want to ask you about this particle's nickname, the "God particle." What did Higgs, who I've read is an atheist, think about the nickname the "God particle"?
MARTIN:
I'm sure - I actually haven't ever asked him this directly, but I'm sure he doesn't like it. Almost all particle physicists detest that name. It was actually Leon Lederman, who's a Nobel laureate, that came up with it. But he was trying to call it "that goddamn particle," and that wasn't allowed by the publishers so it became the "God particle."
So the name stuck and I think it's fine because then people know what we're talking about. But secretly, all of us hate the name, the "God particle."
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