Nor do I so forget God as to adore the name of nature. –Browne
When CERN issued a report of the discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson, the news made headlines around the world. I felt a particular thrill, for back in the summer of 2003 when I was an undergraduate, I worked at CERN on the ATLAS Forward Calorimeter. The hard work of literally thousands of people―including my own comparatively minuscule contribution―is bearing fruit. Physics is continues to explain more and more about our physical world, and that is reason for great excitement.
One of the reasons for the story’s success in the press is a nickname that has been widely adopted: “the God particle”. The familiar and tiresome science-religion narrative naturally ensued. Consequently, several people asked me to comment on it, and some suggested that I write something about it here.
