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Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Englert and Higgs

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Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Englert and Higgs

#41

Post by notjustanymike »

simbolit wrote: post #40

is the nobel prize still the cornerstone of rewarding achievement in the sciences? sorry to be so snarky, but i am genuinely interested, having long lost any trust in the peace prize comittee[0]. not to speak of the economics prize (which is not really a nobel prize [1]) [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_Peace_Prize_laure... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Memorial_Prize_in_Economi... edit: format…

I certainly lost a lot of faith in the Nobel peace prize when they gave it to Obama. It seemed like a political gesture more than a true recognition of significant accomplishments.

Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Englert and Higgs

#42

Post by yeukhon »

vanattab wrote: post #15
jessriedel wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Nobel committee doesn't give out the prize for theoretical advances that aren't backed up by experiment. Since the data was not yet overwhelmingly conclusive at this time last year, this year's award was basically the earliest possible award date for a decades-old idea.

Really? What do you call Obama peace prize then.

stop this stupid comment.

Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Englert and Higgs

#43

Post by bdg »

VLM wrote: post #29
jessriedel wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Nobel committee doesn't give out the prize for theoretical advances that aren't backed up by experiment. Since the data was not yet overwhelmingly conclusive at this time last year, this year's award was basically the earliest possible award date for a decades-old idea.

"aren't backed up by experiment" Sadly, I was expecting arguments by string theorists along the lines of the longbets.org bet for $2000 that no one is going to get a Nobel for anything related to string theory, but I guarantee we'll get ten times as much "Obama" instead. Can't we please argue about that instead of making fun of our "concentration camp warmonger in chief", maybe just in one thread please?

This is likely among the last prizes we'll see in physics for a long time that has evidence to back it up.

The theory is so far ahead of the practice that things we think we understand just can't be tested in reasonable times. Look at what it took just to get the Boson data.

Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Englert and Higgs

#44

Post by tim_hutton »

"While standing around at the back of morning assembly Higgs noticed a name that appeared more than once on the school's honours board. Higgs wondered who PAM Dirac was and read up on the former pupil. He learned that Paul Dirac was a founding father of quantum theory, and the closest Britain had to an Einstein. Through Dirac, Higgs came to relish the arcane world of theoretical physics."

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/02/peter-higgs-p...

Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Englert and Higgs

#45

Post by Ma8ee »

simbolit wrote: post #40

is the nobel prize still the cornerstone of rewarding achievement in the sciences? sorry to be so snarky, but i am genuinely interested, having long lost any trust in the peace prize comittee[0]. not to speak of the economics prize (which is not really a nobel prize [1]) [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_Peace_Prize_laure... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Memorial_Prize_in_Economi... edit: format…

The Peace Prize and the science prizes have very little to do with each other except that all the prizes (except the economy prize, as you pointed out) was created by Alfred Nobel. The science prizes are awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, while the Peace Prize is awarded by a 5 member committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament. So in some sense the Peace Prize is a political prize from the start, even if I don't think it was Nobel's intention.

Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Englert and Higgs

#46

Post by kemiller »

flexie wrote: post #8

They say that professor Higgs is shy and not at all comfortable with the attention and almost as hard to find as his particle.

I'm sensing you're being facetious, but not knowing the personalities involved, what does this mean? Is he a notorious publicity hound?

Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Englert and Higgs

#47

Post by aestra »

notjustanymike wrote: post #41
simbolit wrote: post #40

is the nobel prize still the cornerstone of rewarding achievement in the sciences? sorry to be so snarky, but i am genuinely interested, having long lost any trust in the peace prize comittee[0]. not to speak of the economics prize (which is not really a nobel prize [1]) [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_Peace_Prize_laure... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Memorial_Prize_in_Economi... edit: format…

I certainly lost a lot of faith in the Nobel peace prize when they gave it to Obama. It seemed like a political gesture more than a true recognition of significant accomplishments.

The Nobel Peace Prize was a joke before Obama.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize_controversies#Peace

Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Englert and Higgs

#48

Post by rubidium »

bdg wrote: post #43
VLM wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"aren't backed up by experiment" Sadly, I was expecting arguments by string theorists along the lines of the longbets.org bet for $2000 that no one is going to get a Nobel for anything related to string theory, but I guarantee we'll get ten times as much "Obama" instead. Can't we please argue about that instead of making fun of our "concentration camp warmonger in chief", maybe just in one thread please?

This is likely among the last prizes we'll see in physics for a long time that has evidence to back it up. The theory is so far ahead of the practice that things we think we understand just can't be tested in reasonable times. Look at what it took just to get the Boson data.

I must emphatically disagree with your statement. There are plenty of very hard theoretical problems that experiments are regularly shedding new light on. The entire field of condensed matter and most of atomic, molecular and optical physics progress by both theory and experiment figuring out problems together.

Perhaps by "physics" you meant "particle physics"... but even in that field your statement would be hard to justify.

Re: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Englert and Higgs

#50

Post by phaus »

notjustanymike wrote: post #41
simbolit wrote: post #40

is the nobel prize still the cornerstone of rewarding achievement in the sciences? sorry to be so snarky, but i am genuinely interested, having long lost any trust in the peace prize comittee[0]. not to speak of the economics prize (which is not really a nobel prize [1]) [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_Peace_Prize_laure... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Memorial_Prize_in_Economi... edit: format…

I certainly lost a lot of faith in the Nobel peace prize when they gave it to Obama. It seemed like a political gesture more than a true recognition of significant accomplishments.

it took you this long? They awarded it to Al Gore for climate change awareness (has alot to do with peace i guess?) Even worse, they have awarded it to supporters of terrorism(Arafat), and other violent types of people(Mandela).
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