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posted by martyb on Monday January 26 2015, @12:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the picking-up-the-pieces dept.

Wired has an article on a group of Physicists at NYU that attempted to find the Higgs Boson in old data ahead of the LHC results:

The key to their strategy was a particle collider that had been dismantled in 2001 to make room for the more powerful LHC. For $10,000 in computer time, they would attempt to show that the Large Electron-Positron collider had been making dozens of Higgs bosons without anybody noticing.
...
If Cranmer’s little team had found the Higgs boson before the multi-billion-dollar LHC and unseated the Standard Model, if the count had been 32 instead of 2, their story would have been front-page news. Instead, it was a typical success for the scientific method: A theory was carefully developed, rigorously tested, and found to be false.

It's an interesting story from a rarely covered side of scientific research.

Originally spotted at The physics week in review.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 26 2015, @01:19AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 26 2015, @01:19AM (#138052)

    ..instead of Moet & Chandon in the Rainbow Room at the top of the Rock.

    Other than that, no difference.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Monday January 26 2015, @08:25AM

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Monday January 26 2015, @08:25AM (#138110) Homepage

    I didn't find the Higgs boson either, but no-one wants to write an article about me :(

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk
    • (Score: 2) by WizardFusion on Monday January 26 2015, @11:13AM

      by WizardFusion (498) on Monday January 26 2015, @11:13AM (#138137) Journal

      Were you even looking? At least they tried, what did you do?

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Monday January 26 2015, @01:27PM

        by wonkey_monkey (279) on Monday January 26 2015, @01:27PM (#138165) Homepage

        I checked behind the fridge.

        --
        systemd is Roko's Basilisk
        • (Score: 3, Funny) by WizardFusion on Monday January 26 2015, @02:00PM

          by WizardFusion (498) on Monday January 26 2015, @02:00PM (#138168) Journal

          BREAKING NEWS: "wonkey_monkey" looks for Higgs boson behind fridge, finds nothing.
          If wonkey_monkey had found the Higgs boson before the multi-billion-dollar LHC and unseated the Standard Model, if the count had been 32 instead of 2, their story would have been front-page news. Instead, it was a typical success for looking behind fridges: A theory was carefully developed, rigorously tested, and found to be false.

          Happy now? :)

          • (Score: 3, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Monday January 26 2015, @03:02PM

            by wonkey_monkey (279) on Monday January 26 2015, @03:02PM (#138178) Homepage

            Recognition at last! Now I can finally get the funding I need to embark on an expedition down the back of the sofa.

            --
            systemd is Roko's Basilisk
            • (Score: 3, Funny) by nightsky30 on Monday January 26 2015, @04:49PM

              by nightsky30 (1818) on Monday January 26 2015, @04:49PM (#138213)

              Be careful of stale chips. Those things are sharp and hurt like a bitch!