Book Reviewed: The Higgs Fake: How Particle Physicists Fooled the Nobel Committee, by Alexander Unzicker

Book Reviewed: The Higgs Fake: How Particle Physicists Fooled the Nobel Committee, by Alexander Unzicker

A provocative account of the discovery of Higgs Bosons

This is a daring and highly provocative account of the handling of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) data that led to the discovery of Higgs Bosons. This discovery is deemed extremely important since it confirms the existence of Higgs field in the early universe when matter first acquired mass. The author comes swinging right from beginning to the end, and spare no physicist of current era. He is most critical of well-known physicists like City University of New York Professor Michio Kaku, Harvard University Professor Lisa Randall, Caltech Professor Sean Carroll and University of Manchester Professor Brian Cox. He targets all those popular physics writers and physics television personalities who have cozy relationships with TV folks. He alleges that they are pleased to say exaggerating things on television; he cites several examples to prove his point.

Author Unzicker’s hits hard at the politics that goes behind the closed door; the way experimental data from LHC is handled by a large group of physicists where only a few have significant say in the interpretation. He suggests that all data be available to everyone, make smaller groups and listen to the alternative interpretation of the data. Transparency of the data is the key, says the author. It is common to find in all scientific disciplines that leading scientists use experimental data to support one’s own theory; then what is the problem? The author points to the costs of LHC which works with a budget of 7.5 billion Euros; the most expensive and highly extravagant operation ever conducted in science. His argument is that this huge tax payer’s money is badly mismanaged! The author thinks outside the mainstream of physics and speaks out loudly. He has to look at the outcome of LHC experiments; it proved the existence Higgs Bosons that supports standard model of physics. We have also made significant advances in science and technology which means that our science investments are still working. There is also non-financial reward, the goodwill and pride; it is the amount that you need to pay for national pride.