A New Chapter in Fundamental Physics: Nobel laureate Gerard 't Hooft on the Higgs Boson

With the exciting news of the faster-than-light neutrinos now behind us, the next big event in particle physics will soon be upon us: the announcement of the discovery of the elusive Higgs boson. Popularly known as the God Particle, this tiny little thing is hoped by research scientists at CERN to be the final clue to the very make-up of physical reality. If found, it should explain a lot about how it is that everything exists the way that it does. However, there are others yet who believe that the artificial creation of this particle in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the enormous underground facility beneath the border between Switzerland and France, will tear a rift in the fabric of our universe and kill us all. Or suck us into a deep and endless black hole at the other end of time. However, as my own physics professor always said, “Nothing sucks in physics.” And the fact of the matter is that today’s speaker, the Nobel prize winning physicist Gerard 't Hooft, is determined to explain to us what the significance is of discovering the Higgs boson. And, alternatively, what it means if the particle isn’t found at all after 40 years of research, thousands of man hours, and billions of dollars in public spending. In short: the future of physics depends on the tiniest particle of all. Seeing as this is co-organized with the prestigious Kronig Lecture series organized by the VvTP (the Students Association for Applied Physics), we recommend getting to the lecture on time to get yourself a good seat.

G. 't Hooft

9-2-2012 15:00:00