Higgs Boson Discovery: Who Will Win Nobel Prize?

Even though the Higgs Boson discovery has created great excitement amongst the scientific community, another issue could bring a great deal of controversy to that excitement.

Scientist Peter Higgs is widely expected to win the Nobel Prize for being the first person to theorize on the particle according to Christian Science Monitor. However, the award can go up to three people and even groups and there may be a debate as to who should receive the award with Higgs.

First off, numerous people and research teams were involved in the world leading up to the discovery at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). For example, physics experiments require numerous scientists to run million dollar instruments and then analyze and share information from them.

Furthermore, the study dates back decades as people have been searching for the particle for years and spanned hundreds of contributors. The discovery of the Higgs boson changes how people perceive the universe. Higgs boson particle is thought to be the particle that gives matter mass, which allows it to exhibit the properties we see around us today. 

Last year, astronomer Adam Riess won the Nobel Prize after his use of the Hubble Space Telescope helped him conclude that the universe is accelerating in its expansion. He shared the prize with two other scientists from two different teams; one team consisting of 20 people while the other had 35 collaborators. Picking those two people amongst 55 means crediting some with contributing more than others and often unfairly minimizing others' work.

"Scientists are people, too," Riess said. "It's being able to identify yourself as being involved in work that was recognized as being important."

The task is all the more daunting for the Higgs Boson discovery.

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