how did the god particle get its name
Higgs boson The Higgs boson is often referred to as the "God particle" in popular media outside the scientific community.[173][174][175][176][177] The nickname comes from the title of the 1993 book on the Higgs boson and particle physics, The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question? by Nobel Physics prizewinner and Fermilab director Leon Lederman.[25] Lederman wrote it in the context of failing US government support for the Superconducting Super Collider,[178] a part-constructed titanic[179][180] competitor to the Large Hadron Collider with planned collision energies of 2 Ã— 20 TeV that was championed by Lederman since its 1983 inception[178][181][182] and shut down in 1993. The book sought in part to promote awareness of the significance and need for such a project in the face of its possible loss of funding.[183] Lederman, a leading researcher in the field, writes that he wanted to title his book The Goddamn Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question? Lederman's editor decided that the title was too controversial and convinced him to change the title to The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question?[184]