Jim Baggott is author of Higgs: The Invention and Discovery of the ‘God Particle’ and a freelance science writer. He was a lecturer in chemistry at the University of Reading but left to pursue a business career, where he first worked with Shell International Petroleum Company and then as an independent business consultant and trainer. His many books include Atomic: The First War of Physics (Icon, 2009), Beyond Measure: Modern Physics, Philosophy and the Meaning of Quantum Theory (OUP, 2003), A Beginner’s Guide to Reality (Penguin, 2005), and A Quantum Story: A History in 40 Moments (OUP, 2010).

Read his collection of blog posts, celebrating the launch of his new book, over at the OUPblog. 

On 4th July 2012, scientists at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) facility in Geneva announced the discovery of a new elementary particle they believe is consistent with the long-sought Higgs boson, also known as the ‘God Particle’. Our understanding of the fundamental nature of matter – everything in our visible universe and everything we are – is about to take a giant leap forward.

So, what is the Higgs boson and why is it called the ‘God Particle’? Science writer Jim Baggott, whose book Higgs: the Invention and Discovery of the ‘God Particle’, provides some of these answers. Continue reading →