Emily Conover spent one of the crucial consequential moments in current physics historical past in a cavern close to a nuclear energy plant in France.
At the time, Conover was a Ph.D. pupil in particle physics (she’s now physics senior author for Science News). She was a part of a group constructing a detector within the cavern to watch elusive particles known as neutrinos. It was the Fourth of July 2012. A number of hundred kilometers away, scientists have been asserting the invention of one other elusive subatomic particle, the Higgs boson, which physicists had been looking for a long time. As a whole lot of researchers cheered in the principle auditorium on the CERN particle physics lab close to Geneva, Conover and the small group of physicists within the chilly French cavern cheered too, as did scientists worldwide. The Higgs boson crammed in a lacking piece in the usual mannequin of particle physics, which explains nearly the whole lot identified in regards to the particles that make up atoms and transmit the forces of nature. No Higgs boson, no life as we all know it.
In this problem’s cowl story, “The Higgs boson at 10,” Conover appears to be like again on the pleasure across the discovery of the Higgs boson and appears forward to the numerous issues that researchers hope to seek out out with its assist. She additionally evaluations a brand new biography of Peter Higgs, a modest man who made clear that he was simply certainly one of many scientists who contributed to the breakthrough.
The discovery is a part of Science News historical past too. Journalists all over the world have been eagerly awaiting the large announcement, which was being saved underneath wraps. But when Kate Travis, a Science News editor on the time, uncovered an announcement video unintentionally posted early on CERN’s web site, we printed the large information the day earlier than the official announcement.
“Even though its discovery is 10 years old now, that’s still new in the grand scheme of particle physics, so we’re still learning lots about it,” Conover informed me. “It’s very cool that I get the opportunity to write about this particle that is still so new to science.” And it’s very cool that we get to discover it along with her.