==Peter Higgs, physicist who theorised the Higgs boson, has died aged 94

Nobel prizewinning theoretical physicist Peter Higgs has died aged 94.==

He proposed the particle that gives other particles mass – now named the Higgs boson and discovered by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in 2012

9 April 2024

Groundbreaking theoretical physicist Peter Higgs has died at age 94. Higgs’s work explaining how elementary particles get their mass won him the Nobel prize in 2013 and formed a key ingredient in the standard model of particle physics. He died in his home in Edinburgh, UK, on 8 April after a short illness.

In 1964, while working as a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, Higgs made a prediction that would prove to have a huge impact on the world of physics: he postulated the existence of a field suffusing the universe that gave mass to particles moments after the big bang. This field would be associated with a particle of its own, which was later named the Higgs boson.

The Higgs boson went on to become a foundational prediction of the standard model of particle physics, nicknamed the “god particle” – a moniker that Higgs himself called “an unfortunate mixing of theoretical physics with bad theology” in a 2017 interview with New Scientist.

After years of searching for proof of the Higgs boson, it was finally discovered at the CERN particle physics laboratory in Switzerland in 2012. A year later, Higgs was awarded the Nobel prize, one of many prizes and honours he received for his work.

The discovery of the Higgs boson is commonly cited as the most consequential work of the Large Hadron Collider, but it also marked the beginning of a strange time in particle physics – with all of the particles predicted by the standard model found, what is next? Higgs himself hoped that we would be able to use colliders to connect particle physics with cosmology and the search for dark matter, but those questions remain open.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2426199-peter-higgs-physicist-who-theorised-the-higgs-boson-has-died-aged-94/

Peter Higgs obituary: the shy man who changed our understanding of the Universe

2 days ago (BBC)

Prof Peter Higgs was best known for that mysterious-sounding thing nicknamed the 'God particle' - or just simply, and probably better-put, the Higgs boson.

He came up with the revolutionary idea in the 1960s when he wanted to explain why the basic building blocks of the Universe - atoms - have mass.

His theory about what binds the Universe together, which other scientists also worked on at the same time, sparked a 50-year search for the Holy Grail of physics.

The particle was finally discovered in 2012 by scientists using the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) in Switzerland. It completed what is called the standard model of particle physics.

A famously shy man, he told journalists: "It's very nice to be right sometimes."

His work earned him the Nobel Prize for physics a year later.

–

The particle accelerator, built at a cost of $10bn, was the most powerful yet. It was considered the machine that could prove - or disprove - Higgs's theory.

The boson had been nicknamed the 'God particle' by the media, after a book by Nobel laureate Leon Lederman. Scientists object to the term because they say religion has no role to play in evidence-based physics.

In 2012 physicists at Cern finally announced to great fanfare that they had discovered the Higgs boson.

An advance notice had been sent: "Peter should come to the CERN seminar or he will regret it." He changed travel plans to visit Geneva for the stunning announcement.

"It's been a long wait but it might have been even longer, I might not have been still around," Higgs said. "At the beginning I had no idea whether a discovery would be made in my lifetime."

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68774853

Indicted, powerful former Ohio utilities chairman dead suicide suspected

Apr 10, 2024 Updated 22 hrs ago

Ohio’s former chairman of the Public Utilities Commissioner, facing charges in the state's biggest corruption case, has been found dead.

The body of Sam Randazzo was discovered late Tuesday morning in a building he owned in Columbus. He was 74.

The Franklin County Coronor's Office said an autopsy is planned and believes his death was by suicide.

Randazzo was facing charges in connection to the state’s House Bill 6 scandal. He had pleaded not guilty to all.

In February, an Ohio grand jury indicted Randazzo and two former FirstEnergy Corp. executives for their roles.

Randazzo controlled two companies – the Sustainability Funding Alliance of Ohio and IEU-Ohio Administration Co. Both were named in the indictment, with prosecutors saying they were shell companies created to further Randazzo’s criminal activities, the indictment said.

Randazzo's 22 felony counts included:

• Eight counts of money laundering.

• Six counts of tampering with records.

• Three counts of telecommunications fraud.

• Two counts of aggravated theft.

• One count each of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, grand theft, and bribery.

The billion-dollar bailout of Ohio’s nuclear energy companies from House Bill 6 resulted in the largest corruption scandal in state history. Former House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for his involvement. Former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges is also in prison for his involvement.

Householder lost his speakership and was expelled from the chamber in June 2021.

As previously reported by The Center Square, FirstEnergy agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors in their investigation. It admitted conspiring with public officials, others and entities to pay millions of dollars to public officials in exchange for specific official action to help FirstEnergy.

Householder and four co-conspirators were charged in 2020. Also charged were Borges, lobbyist Neil Clark, the Oxley Group co-founder Juan Cespedes and strategist John Longstreth.

HB6 created a new Ohio Clean Air Program to support nuclear energy plants and some solar power facilities. Electricity consumers were to fund the program with a surcharge that ran through 2027.

The fee, scheduled to begin Jan. 1, 2021, was stopped by the Ohio Supreme Court in late December 2020. Yost also reached a deal with FirstEnergy to stop what would have been a $120 million windfall for the company this year based on another part of the legislation.

https://gazette.com/news/wex/indicted-powerful-former-ohio-utilities-chairman-dead-suicide-suspected/article_e505d4bf-8084-5c83-ba3d-2420195bb06a.html

>>20710845

Rumored gas stove ban?

My gas stove with gas oven died. Tried to buy a new one. Could get a gas burner top - but NO gas oven unless you buy from Italy or $12k top of the line borderline commercial.

Who ever is doing it, the government or others, are definitely preventing or obstructing the successful purchase of new gas stoves.

>>20710903

Thanks. I'll look into it.

Months ago I ordered one at Home Depot but even though they said they could get it - they never could get it. Wasted a month of my time without a stove. Got so pissed, still don't have a stove.