{"id":477,"date":"2012-07-06T10:03:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-06T10:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/vatican-astronomer-says-god-particle-is-misnamed-but-exciting\/"},"modified":"2012-07-06T10:03:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-06T10:03:00","slug":"vatican-astronomer-says-god-particle-is-misnamed-but-exciting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/07\/vatican-astronomer-says-god-particle-is-misnamed-but-exciting\/","title":{"rendered":"Vatican astronomer says ‘God particle’ is misnamed, but exciting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Rome, Italy, Jul 6, 2012 \/ 04:03 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- While it has no direct bearing on theology or revelation, the scientific discovery hailed by some as the \u201cGod particle\u201d is an important achievement, a Vatican astronomer says.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt is a wonderful piece of science,\u201d said Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, a researcher and spokesman at the Vatican Observatory, in a July 5 interview with CNA.<\/p>\n

\tOn July 4, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) publicized results suggesting it had found the elusive \u201cHiggs boson\u201d particle, thought to explain the physical mass of objects in the universe, by means of subatomic experiments carried on at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva.<\/p>\n

\tBr. Consolmagno said the apparent discovery of the Higgs boson was a \u201cdelight,\u201d particularly given the gradual progress of most physical research, and the resources invested in running the Swiss particle accelerator.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt is nice to see such a big step occur that everybody can celebrate,\u201d the Vatican astronomer remarked, congratulating the researchers who \u201cfinally got something out of the years and time and effort they\u2019ve put into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tAlthough officials at CERN have not definitively claimed to find the particle, the group's director-general Professor Rolf Heuer said researchers had \u201cobserved a new particle consistent with a Higgs boson.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAs a layman I would now say I think we have it,\u201d Prof. Heuer announced at a press conference in Geneva.<\/p>\n

\tNicknamed \u201cthe God particle\u201d by physicist Leon Lederman, the Higgs boson was postulated by British physicist Peter Higgs during the 1960s, as a necessary component in the \u201cStandard Model\u201d of the universe.<\/p>\n

\tThe Standard Model involves four distinct forces: electromagnetism, the \u201cstrong nuclear force,\u201d the \u201cweak nuclear force,\u201d and gravity. While scientists have made progress in their understanding of the first three, the force of gravitation is thought to hinge on the previously-unobserved Higgs boson.<\/p>\n

\tVarious kinds of subatomic particles, such as quarks, leptons, and so-called \u201cforce carriers,\u201d are thought to make up the observable world, according to the Standard Model. While these particles account for many observable phenomena, the Higgs boson is believed to be necessary to give them their mass.<\/p>\n

\tWhile the results from the Large Hadron Collider point to the discovery of this missing component in the Standard Model, Br. Consolmagno observed that there is \u201ca hint that something else is going on\u201d in the results, \u201cwhich is always exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHe also clarified that the discovery, despite its nickname, \u201chas nothing to do with theology or God\u201d in any direct sense.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe name 'the God particle' was given to it as a joke by Leon Lederman,\u201d the Vatican astronomer recalled. \u201cIt was basically a provocative title for book he was writing on particle physics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cHe said that if there was a particle that could exist that could explain all the little things we wanted to explain, it would be a gift from God. It is a metaphor and has nothing to do with theology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rome, Italy, Jul 6, 2012 \/ 04:03 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- While it has no direct bearing on theology or revelation, the scientific discovery hailed by some as the “God particle” is an important achievement, a Vatican astronomer says.<\/p>\n

\t“I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe"],"yoast_head":"\nVatican astronomer says 'God particle' is misnamed, but exciting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rome, Italy, Jul 6, 2012 \/ 04:03 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- While it has no direct bearing on theology or revelation, the scientific discovery hailed by some as the “God particle” is an important achievement, a Vatican astronomer says. “I...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/07\/vatican-astronomer-says-god-particle-is-misnamed-but-exciting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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