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HIGGS BOSON: PARTICLE OF GOD?
Fernando Alcoforado *
The physical Petter Higgs proposed a theory to understand how the universe emerged.
For Higgs, when did the Big Bang, the explosion that originated the Universe 14 billion
years ago, all particles are equal. After the explosion, the universe cooled and formed an
invisible force field, the "Higgs field" with their respective bosons (a type of subatomic
particle). Then, this particle, the Higgs boson, interacted with all the others and has its
mass to the other. This field remains in the cosmos and any particles that interact with it
receive a mass through the bosons. The more interact become heavier. The particles do
not interact remain mass less. Therefore, the particles were only able to gain mass due
to Higgs boson.
Physicists at the LHC (The Large Hadron Collider) implemented in Switzerland in
2009, the largest particle accelerator in the world, announced the discovery of a new
particle that they believe is the Higgs boson, better known as the "God particle",
responsible for give mass to matter and therefore the very existence of stars, planets and
living beings. If the Higgs boson is confirmed, there will be the crowning of the
scientific theory that explains how to behave all components and all forces in nature,
except the force of gravity. It should be noted that researchers at the LHC will not admit
in so many words that this is the desired "God particle".
The term "God particle" was given by the physicist Leon Lederman, Nobel Laureate in
Physics, in analogy to the biblical narrative of the Tower of Babel described in Genesis,
which was built with the goal of the summit reached to heaven. This was an affront to
God of men, because they wanted to match him then God stopped the project, then
punished the men so that they speak different languages so they do not understand and
could not return to build a tower with that purpose. This analogy stems from the fact
that the Higgs boson is the particle that allows all the other have different masses.
The term "God particle" has been used mainly by the tabloid press to attract readers to
the scientific fact. However, most of the scientific community prefers to call it the
Higgs boson, so there is no distortion of the real significance of the research and give it
a religious connotation inappropriate. The term "God particle" also represents an
attempt by supporters of the existence of a Creator of the universe to demonstrate its
existence relying on the results of a scientific experiment still partial.
It would be up to science to prove God's existence? It should be noted that for many
centuries, God was presented as the main responsible for the success of the human
adventure on the planet, until science began to show that this was not necessarily true.
In the 1860s, the theory of natural selection and evolution of species by Charles Darwin,
launched the first doubts about the consistent influence on the divine order of life on
Earth. Over the years, more and more researchers began to argue that the fate of
humanity was gradually abandoned the faith and religion in the name of belief in
objective explanations for natural phenomena. (See the article by Rodrigo Cavalcante
under the title Procura-se Deus (Seeking God) posted on the website
<http://super.abril.com.br/religiao/procura-se-deus-446112.shtml>).
In the above-mentioned article, Procura-se Deus (Seeking God), there is the assertion
that, in the 20th century, Nietzsche, Marx, Freud, Sartre and others came to play the
"death" of God and the beginning of an "age of reason." It does not take an expert to

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know that this victory did not materialize. Instead, what we observe today is a revival of
the faith, even among some scientists. Throughout history, man's relationship with the
sacred has been an extremely persistent trait. The American paleontologist Stephen Jay
Gould believes that science and religion work in a complementary, not opposite: science
to explain natural phenomena and religion as a pillar of ethical values and the search for
a spiritual meaning to life. It is for thinking so that is why he always put the side of
researchers who are against mixing science with religion.
It should be noted that science cannot provide definitive proof of the laws of nature
because, although we can test an idea repeatedly, we can never be sure there are no
exceptions. But though science is not able to provide us with absolute truth, that does
not mean we should put it on a par with religious beliefs and the like. Science examines
based on the scientific method the essence of things looking for answers about what
allows us to really know. Science deals with empirical knowledge, that is, that we
acquire through our senses - extended if necessary, by instruments such as microscopes,
telescopes or particle accelerators - and not only by reflection.
Empiricism, as the procedure to know the natural world, is relatively recent. He has
successfully established itself in the scientific revolution of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, when Galileo Galilei, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton and others
have shown that the facts obtained by empirical observations could revolutionize our
world view. That is what distinguishes science from religion. There is a fundamental
difference between science and religion. Science is based on observations in
reproducible and open publication. Religion is primarily based on faith.
When a man asks about the existence of a being as God, he is not aware of being to
formulate a scientific problem or waiting to give a scientific solution. Scientific
problems are all related to the knowledge of the reality around us. A scientific
explanation of the world would be a rational explanation of what the comprehensive
world really is. The determination of the existence of God and the root causes of the
existence of nature, for example, is not a scientific problem, because your answer is not
capable of empirical verification.
Unlike science, the notion of God always appears in history in response to some
existential problem. In the early days of mankind, the gods were constantly invoked to
explain various events in the history of men and things. Whatever your core value, it is
existential answers to existential questions. As such, can never be translated in terms of
science, but only in terms of an existential metaphysics. There is an irreconcilable
conflict between faith and science? This question arises every day. Just follow the
information or academic journals.
Despite the detractors of religion insist that the politically correct attitude of the scientist
is to discard the "God hypothesis", the debate between science and religion in general
always comes back when there are new scientific discoveries. Some scientists claim that
science and faith are incompatible, for the same reason that irrationality and rationality
are. Almost all scientists argue that science is only equipped to uncover the truth. Can
there be dialogue between science and religion, but will not be a constructive dialogue.
According to many scientists, religion has nothing to add to science.
* Alcoforado, Fernando, engineer and doctor of Territorial Planning and Regional Development from the
University of Barcelona, a university professor and consultant in strategic planning, business planning,
regional planning and planning of energy systems, is the author of Globalização (Editora Nobel, São
Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo,

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1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do
desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,
http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel,
São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era
Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social
Development-The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Muller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG,
Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (P&A Gráfica e Editora,
Salvador, 2010) e Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global
(Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), among others.