In Our Time: Science

Higgs Boson


Listen Later

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Higgs Boson particle. One weekend in 1964 the Scottish scientist Peter Higgs was walking in the Cairngorm Mountains. On his return to his laboratory in Edinburgh the following Monday, he declared to his colleagues that he had just experienced his 'one big idea' and now had an answer to the mystery of how matter in the universe got its mass. That big idea took many years of refining, but it has now generated so much international interest and has such an important place in physics that well over one billion pounds is being spent in the hope that he was right. It's the biggest science project on Earth; the quest to find the 'Higgs Boson', a fundamental constituent of nature that - if it does exist - has such a central role in defining the universe that it's also known as the God Particle.What is the Higgs Boson? Why is it so important to scientists and how are they planning to find it?With Jim Al-Khalili, Senior Lecturer in Physics at the University of Surrey; David Wark, Professor of Experimental Physics at Imperial College London and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory; Professor Roger Cashmore, former Research Director at CERN and now Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

In Our Time: ScienceBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

705 ratings


More shows like In Our Time: Science

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,697 Listeners

More or Less by BBC Radio 4

More or Less

890 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,063 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,541 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,797 Listeners

HistoryExtra podcast by Immediate

HistoryExtra podcast

3,250 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,881 Listeners

In Our Time: Philosophy by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Philosophy

869 Listeners

In Our Time: Culture by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Culture

607 Listeners

In Our Time: Religion by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Religion

285 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,763 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,036 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,922 Listeners

Great Lives by BBC Radio 4

Great Lives

498 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

424 Listeners

Thinking Allowed by BBC Radio 4

Thinking Allowed

308 Listeners

Curious Cases by BBC Radio 4

Curious Cases

760 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

234 Listeners

Unexpected Elements by BBC World Service

Unexpected Elements

363 Listeners

Death in Ice Valley by BBC World Service

Death in Ice Valley

2,735 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,167 Listeners

The Ancients by History Hit

The Ancients

3,392 Listeners

The Bomb by BBC World Service

The Bomb

1,003 Listeners