PU organizes a public lecture on “God Particle”

Chandigarh: The School of Communication Studies and Department of Physics, Panjab University, organized a public lecture on the topic ‘The Holy Grail of Particle Physics:  The Search and Discovery of the Higgs  Boson’ here on Wednesday. The lecture was delivered by Dr R Ramachandran, renowned physicist, scientist, communicator and currently the Associate Editor of ‘Frontline’ (a fortnightly publication of The Hindu Group).

The guest of honour at the event was Shri Raj Chengappa, Editor in Chief, The Tribune. Addressing the audiences, Chengappa said, “Today’s lecture is very important for us to understand the important scientific breakthroughs.” Referring to the complexity of understanding such a topic by general audience, Chengappa said, “Genius is the ability to break the complex into simple.”  The lecture was presided over by Prof A.K. Grover, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, Panjab University. Prof Grover applauded the efforts of the team from the Panjab University who were a part of the experiments that are believed to have led to the discovery of the God Particle.

Dr R Ramachandran began his lecture by apprising the audiences with how the God particle was actually discovered and how it got this name. Describing Higgs Boson as an extremely short lived particle with a life time of just 10^-22Seconds Dr Ramachandran said, “The particle cannot be seen or captured by camera or even detected by experiment detectors owing to its short life.” The lecture discussed the various phenomenon related to this scientific breakthrough. Dr Ramachandran discussed the Standard Model of Physics, its limitations and the Higgs Mechanism and how they help in the experiments that led to the scientific discovery. Dr Ramachandran further said that the research that was conducted at CERN, Geneva also brought together Scientists, Technology, technicians from different countries irrespective of political and ideological affiliations.

The lecture was followed by a question hour where Dr Ramchandran addressed the quires to the satisfaction of the audiences.

This was followed by Dr. C.S.Aulakh, Chairperson , Department of Physics offering a vote of thanks to the various departments and volunteers who helped in the organization of the public lecture.