Friday, August 06, 2010

If Higgs boson is real, who gets the Nobel?

This is really interesting, because Dr. Higgs is not the only person who worked out that the Higgs boson should exist. Five other men did it about the same time. With the LHC operators hopeful they will soon detect the important particle, confirmation of the results will likely win someone a Nobel prize. But who? There are six people involved, and the Nobel can be given to a maximum of three. The American Physical Society, which does not have that rule for its awards, named all six winners of the prestigious J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics. But let's face it, the Nobel is THE gold medal, and there are already lively arguments about how to award it.
COMMENT: It would be funny if the LHC produced really weird results that led physicists to conclude the Higgs either doesn't exist or is not that important. Either is highly unlikely, but physics gets REALLY weird at that scale....

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