German Researchers Contribute to Detection of Higgs Boson "God
Particle" Enlarge image From left, Belgian physicist Francois
Englert, Rolf Heuer, director general of CERN, and British
physicist Peter Higgs (© picture alliance / dpa) The detection
of a new sub-atomic particle by scientists at the CERN European
research center in Geneva has been hailed by German Federal
Minister for Research Annette Schavan as a “scientific
sensation.” There is a high probability that the particle
detected is the famed “God particle,” named the “Higgs boson”
particle after Peter Higgs, a physicist who theorized its
existence. Scientists have been searching for the particle for
decades and is thought by the standard model of physics to be
responsible for fact that materials have mass. “The perseverance
and curiosity of the scientists has been rewarded,” Schavan said
Wednesday in Berlin. The discovery was initially presented at a
scientific conference in Geneva. The probability of error on the
part of the scientists is below one