Wednesday 4 July 2012

Is It the Boson?

So, the Higgs Boson, the (ridiculously)  so-called 'God particle', has been discovered - or has it? Reading this, I can't say I'm much the wiser, but it does put me in mind of the closing lines of The Hunting of the Snark...

'“It’s a Snark!” was the sound that first came to their ears,
   And seemed almost too good to be true.
Then followed a torrent of laughter and cheers:
 Then the ominous words “It’s a Boo-”

Then, silence. Some fancied they heard in the air
 A weary and wandering sigh
That sounded like “-jum!” but the others declare
 It was only a breeze that went by.

They hunted till darkness came on, but they found
 Not a button, or feather, or mark,
By which they could tell that they stood on the ground
 Where the Baker had met with the Snark.

In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
 In the midst of his laughter and glee,
He had softly and suddenly vanished away —
 For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.'

3 comments:

  1. Apparently Prof Higgs wept when he heard the news, what Mr Boson did has not yet been revealed. The little doodah, it is said, has no commercial value, unlike the pending Nobel doodah.

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  2. @malty - true, but the electron had no commercial value when it was discovered.

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  3. The Boojum is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonnetmaker/sets/72157623801828013/detail/

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