The name is no good for physicists, options abound

Dec 15, 2011 15:59 GMT  ·  By

When even the leader of the CMS experiment on the Large Hadron Collider – who is in charge of searching for the Higgs boson – says that the name God's particle is inappropriate, he reflects a widely-accepted point of view among physicists – that the name needs to be changed.

Known popularly as God's particle, the Higgs is currently being hunted down mercilessly at the LHC. With new studies hinting that it has been found, giving the particle a proper name becomes increasingly important. The name God's particle is hated by the vast majority of physicists studying it.

According to LiveScience, terms such as masson, OOM or Super Cool Non-Denominational Particle work just fine. Some experts also argue that the particle should be henceforth be known simply as the Higgs boson.

The name God's particle originated in a book that was initially supposed to be called The Goddamn Particle. The publisher chose to shorten the title, and the name stuck, much to the dismay of everyone who knows what the particle actually is.

Any suggestions of a new name are welcomed in the comment section below.