On this episode, I present an audio diary of the events leading up to the public presentation at CERN of the discovery of a new subatomic particle consistent with the Higgs particle. The “Going Up Alleys” podcast is an ongoing conversation about curious avenues of investigation. The world is a strange and complicated place. In this irregular podcast, we’ll see how different people strive to make sense of it through creative and critical thinking. Except in this one, because I talk a lot.
On July 4, 2012, the ATLAS and CMS Experiments announced the discovery of a new subatomic particle consistent with the long-predicted Higgs particle. I was able to be present in the CERN main amphitheater for the seminars, and in this episode I convey the story leading up to the announcement (and the announcement itself) using an audio diary. Please enjoy some of the sounds of the hours before the announcement, and of the announcement itself.
There are no words to describe what it was like to not only know many of the people involved in this discovery, but to be present in the room when it happened. I would like to especially thank Aidan Randle-Conde and his mother, Carla Staton, for organizing the late night trip into CERN to secure a place in line . . . and for generally being awesome (and certainly excellent company during the long wait to get into the auditorium).
Show Notes
- CERN Press Release on the discovery.
- Music for the podcast is licensed under Creative Commons and is by the artist, Nicoco. The song used in the podcast is “Occipital,” from the album “Classicoco,” and is available from Jamendo.
- This podcast was produced at the Tibbetts Estate in St. Genis, France. Many thanks to Lord Tibbetts for his hospitality and reasonable chore list. Linux and Ubuntu were used in the making of this podcast, as was Audacity, an iPad, the AudioMemos app, and an unreasonably small amount of “too much free time.”
