What the Higgs Boson means to mankind

Two years ago I attended the BEST PRESS CONFERENCE EVER. I met with the scientists of CERN, the facility that houses the Large Hadron Collider which was used to prove the existence of the Higgs Boson. While everyone else was discussing nuclear energy (in a political manner, not scientific manner, mind you — which was sad), I was the only one that posed the question about the Higgs boson, and I quote:

I got an (paraphrased) answer. “You are correct. The LHC’s primary reason for existence is for the Higgs Boson particle. It has not yet been discovered. The discovery of the Higgs doesn’t have one true value but its implications are great. It is like how the electron was discovered about 100 years ago — the advances that were made to society were immense.”

This week, the Higgs boson’s discovery seems imminent. It isn’t “discovered” in the sense, because the standard model does make the assumption that the Higgs did already exist. If it did not, that would be a fascinating blow to science. Again, the discovery itself is a huge deal. It doesn’t immediately have direct consumer application (like hover boards) but is a stepping stone into a new era of science.

The video above explains the concept of the particle as the one responsible for the meaning of mass.

Resources:

WIRED Magazine – What can we do with the Higgs boson

The Guardian – How to explain the Higgs Boson discovery