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Peter Higgs, physicist who discovered Higgs boson, has died

theguardian.com

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Re: Peter Higgs, physicist who discovered Higgs boson, has died

#31

Post by dotnet00 »

lupire wrote: post #19
dotnet00 wrote: post #12

The story of how Higgs predicted his mechanism was part of what got me into physics as a kid. It fit 10 year old me's obsession with the 'soft-spoken genius' archetype perfectly and formed a pillar in my belief that 'genius' was made through hard work (and some amount of luck) rather than being born with it. The announcement of the detection at the LHC is a core memory of mine, I still distinctly remember where I was…

What makes you think he wasn't born with it? I can see in own kids that each one is built differently, with different inmate propensities despite similar environment.

Most childhood prodigies don't end up being all that different from the average person as an adult, and of course no one's born with the knowledge of some revolutionary discovery in their head.

While all of us have things we find easier to do than the average person, short of a literal mental disability, we can build up skills in things we are not good at through practice. I used to barely pass in math class and didn't even understand the concept of negative numbers until 8th grade. A year of practicing daily for 2 hours after school, and my fundamentals had gotten good enough that I unknowingly derived a calculus-based solution to some problems I was stuck at, 2 grade levels before when I'd actually start learning calculus and got to skip a year as a result.

Similarly, I've been teaching myself to draw despite having been pretty terrible at it and discovering how 'deliberate' most professional artists have to be with practice and building skills.

I think it's pretty common for people to write off their inability to do something as just a lack of innate ability, when it's really just that no one really sees the struggle anyone famous for their work/skill has gone through to get there.

Re: Peter Higgs, physicist who discovered Higgs boson, has died

#32

Post by sonofaragorn »

dotnet00 wrote: post #25
KingFelix wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is awesome, we need some more amazing scientists in the public eye to inspire the young. I know there are a lot of amazing scientists, but somehow need to get them on tiktok or something? Can you share the story?

My parents had a hard time explaining my dad's job to me, so they just told me he was a scientist because he had a masters in physics (he was a diplomat). Like any little kid, my parents were my heroes, so of course this led me to becoming obsessed with scientists and reading up on science stuff, eg trying to read my sister's university textbooks. I developed a hobby of reading up on and sharing factoids I found onli…

I get your sentiment, but I think it's important for science communication to adapt to the times. Decades ago (and even as little as one decade ago), most scientists (maybe Hawking being the exception) who would dare appear in these 1hr documentaries would be belittled by the "hardcore" scientists with the same words you used "Science should not be over-simplified like that", "they are not real scientists, they just want to be on TV", etc.

The truth is that young people are mostly on TikTok et al, so this type of content needs to get there.

Re: Peter Higgs, physicist who discovered Higgs boson, has died

#33

Post by dotnet00 »

sonofaragorn wrote: post #32
dotnet00 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents had a hard time explaining my dad's job to me, so they just told me he was a scientist because he had a masters in physics (he was a diplomat). Like any little kid, my parents were my heroes, so of course this led me to becoming obsessed with scientists and reading up on science stuff, eg trying to read my sister's university textbooks. I developed a hobby of reading up on and sharing factoids I found onli…

I get your sentiment, but I think it's important for science communication to adapt to the times. Decades ago (and even as little as one decade ago), most scientists (maybe Hawking being the exception) who would dare appear in these 1hr documentaries would be belittled by the "hardcore" scientists with the same words you used "Science should not be over-simplified like that", "they are not real scientists, they just…

Yeah that's a fair point. As an early career scientist myself now and as someone not that interested in current social media trends, I certainly do risk being in the same spot as those 'hardcore' scientists.

Re: Peter Higgs, physicist who discovered Higgs boson, has died

#34

Post by para_parolu »

BobaFloutist wrote: post #30
golergka wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any evidence of any physical phenomena is probabilistic. And with Bell's inequalities, we know that for a fact.

Any evidence of any physical phenomena is probablystic? Maybe this is true of you go deep enough into mathematical/philosophical/quantum rabbit holes, but it doesn't pass the intuitive smell test - I could off-hand name tens of physical phenomena that will perform as expected 100% of the time, deterministic physics (on the macro scale, at least) are like the entire basis for the scientific method.

You may think you have 100% probability of event but then simulation glitches and outcome is different.

Re: Peter Higgs, physicist who discovered Higgs boson, has died

#35

Post by anthony__j »

ColinWright wrote: post #18
UncleSlacky wrote: post #17

Lame claim to fame: Higgs was the PhD supervisor of one of my university professors. He told us that Higgs left a message on his desk before going hiking one weekend to the effect that he'd had a great idea and would tell them all about it when he got back.

I wonder if he got the idea from Hardy, who before undertaking a journey on a very small boat sent a postcard saying he had proved the Riemann Hypothesis: Hardy stayed in Denmark with Bohr until the very end of the summer vacation, and when he was obliged to return to England to start his lectures there was only a very small boat available…. The North Sea can be pretty rough, and the probability that such a small boa…

haha, that's pretty clever. makes you wonder if fermat was doing a similar prank with his margins

Re: Peter Higgs, physicist who discovered Higgs boson, has died

#37

Post by santbo »

RIP.

Lucky who is born in an English-speaking country with a short name easy to remember by other English monolinguals. The "Higgs boson" has many fathers, but his name got attached to the concept for simplicity, giving him world fame and, ultimately, a Nobel prize when he likely didn't contribute significantly more than others, cf. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson#History or https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize_controversies#Ph...

Re: Peter Higgs, physicist who discovered Higgs boson, has died

#38

Post by vazma »

I was incredibly fortunate to meet him at CERN the day before the Higgs boson announcement. As an intern, I encountered him the evening prior; he was dining alone in the CERN cafeteria, blending in like a kindly elderly gentleman. He was exceptionally humble and courteous. I feel so lucky that I mustered the courage to speak with him and shake his hand. Rest in peace, Mr. Higgs.

Re: Peter Higgs, physicist who discovered Higgs boson, has died

#39

Post by ColinWright »

anthony__j wrote: post #35
ColinWright wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if he got the idea from Hardy, who before undertaking a journey on a very small boat sent a postcard saying he had proved the Riemann Hypothesis: Hardy stayed in Denmark with Bohr until the very end of the summer vacation, and when he was obliged to return to England to start his lectures there was only a very small boat available…. The North Sea can be pretty rough, and the probability that such a small boa…

haha, that's pretty clever. makes you wonder if fermat was doing a similar prank with his margins

It's generally believed that Fermat thought he had a proof, but probably almost immediately remembered that not everything is a Unique Factorization Domain, so the "obvious proof" fails. Then he didn't bother returning to correct the error.

So no, probably not.

(+) I should go and learn more about the specifics of this to make sure I'm relating it correctly.

EDIT: (++) OK, here's what I was thinking about:

https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/953462/what-was-lam...

EDIT2: (++) Second link with similar details:

https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/324740/fermats-proo...

Re: Peter Higgs, physicist who discovered Higgs boson, has died

#40

Post by tgv »

dotnet00 wrote: post #31
lupire wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think he wasn't born with it? I can see in own kids that each one is built differently, with different inmate propensities despite similar environment.

Most childhood prodigies don't end up being all that different from the average person as an adult, and of course no one's born with the knowledge of some revolutionary discovery in their head. While all of us have things we find easier to do than the average person, short of a literal mental disability, we can build up skills in things we are not good at through practice. I used to barely pass in math class and didn…

But there definitely is a wide variation in peak capability. I have been playing keyboard instruments almost my whole life, and while I can play relatively complex pieces, I've never gotten at the level of professional musicians, let alone the greats. It's true they wouldn't have gotten where they are without practicing, but practicing is just not enough.
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