ASPEN CENTER FOR PHYSICS – HIGGS BOSON? WHY SHOULD I CARE?

PhotonQ-Closing In to Higgs Boson (Photo credit: PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE)

Unhappy with your weight? Blame it on the Higgs Boson.

On June 6, 2012, at a “news conference” event held at the Aspen Center for Physics, Michigan State University professor, Elizabeth Simmons made that comment while announcing that physicists at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics run by CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research ) have finally found experimental evidence of  the existence of the long-sought elementary subatomic particle, the Higgs Boson.

The timing of this momentous discovery and its official announcement was serendipitous for the Aspen Center for Physics which is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this summer. For the last 50 years, physicists from around the world have gathered in Aspen to discuss theoretical physics to increase their understanding of it and to disseminate this information to the public. 

Just last February, Rolf Heuer, Director General, CERN (LHC), spoke about this very Higgs Boson at one of the Maggie and Nick DeWolf 2012 Winter Physics Lectures in Aspen. In the “Science and Our Future” event, July 1, 2012, held at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival, Brian Greene, Professor of Physics and Mathematics at Columbia University, discussed the importance of this discovery.

ASPEN COLORADO – WHAT’S BEEN GOING ON - WHAT’S COMING UP

Jerome B. Wheeler, former Macy's executive who later moved to Aspen, Colorado, and helped develop the town during its silver-mining boom era in the 1880s. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Aspen, Colorado really is a delightfully unique place.

While the town is recognized internationally as a skiing and snowboarding mecca with many high-profile events and activities geared towards the rich and famous, it also provides the venue for many other outstanding activities and events that are accessible to the “common folk” as well.

Having grown up in Aspen and having lived here (or close by) for most of my life, one would think that I would take advantage of this, but it is astonishingly easy sometimes to take opportunities like this for granted. Only recently have I acted to rectify this and avail myself of activities and events that I had once brushed off or ignored completely.

Over the last year, I have listened to Aspen Music Festival concerts, sat in on lectures and presentations by the Aspen Center for Physics and the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES) , and even participated in local community dances.