It waited there in the field not zero, twixt mathematical probabilities and uncertainty principles, inert; but able to catalyze a thing that could neither be created nor destroyed. Teetering on the brink of creation it waited, for other particles to grab, to create a resistance to their change in motion, to slow them down, thereby endowing them with mass and energy. In time that mass and energy, transferred in endless replications and myriad applications down through eons would give rise to that which would at last, utter its name. The god particle; waiting for the word.
Higgs would not be born for millions of millennia to come………………..no matter.
Oonah V Joslin is a new writer. She writes poetry, flash fiction and short stories but is also working on a first novel.
[learn more about the Higgs boson]
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19 Responses to “THE HIGGS BOSON • by Oonah V Joslin”
Comments
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September 25th, 2007 at 12:09 am
I loved the way you blurred science and a sense of religion and wonder in this piece, Oonah. It started out so factual and became something magical. Very cleverly done.
September 25th, 2007 at 12:50 am
Great scope for such a few words.
Clyde.
September 25th, 2007 at 1:15 am
Wonderful. So much said in so little - a whole Universe in fact. I love the God particle! Clever and digestible Flash.
September 25th, 2007 at 3:41 am
Oonah:
You have a nice lyrical quality to your writing. And that last line is what flash is all about.
Cool choice, editors!
September 25th, 2007 at 4:09 am
Ha, “no matter” - good one. Poor Higgs, he’ll never make it…
September 25th, 2007 at 6:11 am
Oonah, I love you. Sorry if that’s embarrassing, but this is just wonderful and fiction about physics is pretty much my most favourite thing in the whole world. Great, great, great, great. Loads of love coming out here.
Tania
September 25th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Thank you all for reading and adding your comments. I appreciate it.
September 25th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Only Oonah could make high energy physics sound so beautiful.
September 26th, 2007 at 4:14 am
I thank you, Jordan. :):)nah
September 26th, 2007 at 4:15 am
Am i missing something here?
Don’t want to piss on no ones fire, but is this some sort of fan club!
I found it a bit difficult to care about a particle, but props for giving it a go
September 26th, 2007 at 7:18 am
Josh,
We get this kind of comment on nearly every story, especially those that get a lot of positive comments.
Fact is, we cannot hope to please everyone with every story, so EDF’s goal is to please everyone with AT LEAST one story. The people you see commenting here happen to like this piece, but they have also shared their feelings about stories they felt were sub-standard.
If you didn’t like this piece, might I suggest you try “Rootless” by Peter Tupper? You can find it here: http://www.everydayfiction.com/rootless-by-peter-tupper/
September 26th, 2007 at 7:31 am
Hey thanks for thinking of me Jord,
I’ll check it out.
I don’t mean to diss your efforts none, but i thought comments meant just that comments.
Its a bit of a one way street if you don’t want comments that aren’t saying how great everything is. Don’t you reckon?
September 26th, 2007 at 8:15 am
Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel as if I was shutting you down. We welcome all comments on our stories, and we keep them in mind when we are selecting future pieces. You didn’t like this piece, and I appreciate you voicing your opinion.
I sent you the link to a completely different story in the hopes that you will like that one more than you like this one
September 26th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I went to a special high school for science nerds, admittedly many decades ago, but this story flew right over my head. Might be a bit obscure for general audiences?
September 26th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Very obscure but still cool!.
You can read all about it on the wiki page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson
its basically the ‘God’ partial, it plays a key role in explaining the origins of the mass of other elementary particles.
its a good read if you have a bit of a science background.
By the way great story ^^
September 27th, 2007 at 4:02 am
Thank you Steven. It is my hope that some readers will follow that link.
My degree is in French. I just have a layman’s curiosity about all aspects of Science and sometimes I write about it to grasp the concepts for myself.
Research into the HB has been halted because of magnet problems within the Collider at Cern but they hope to resume next year.
I thought you were brave to take the Higgs story.
October 3rd, 2007 at 8:35 am
Hard science with a splash of God–loved it.
October 13th, 2007 at 6:52 am
Thank you DJ.
October 19th, 2007 at 6:18 am
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