Peter Higgs interview: 'I have this kind of underlying incompetence'

> One has since acknowledged that they were simply too late, and Higgs agrees, "I think so, yes." The other two were invited to Cern in July last year when the particle's discovery was announced, and complained about being ignored by the press, but although he does say they "naturally felt a bit left out", he doesn't look too troubled.

One of the saddest part of this article. We often forget that a lot of geniuses are left in the dark just because they were not here first. But they might have very interesting stories to tell as well.

> But his reluctance to embrace the technological developments taking place in everyday life had nothing to do with incompetence. My dad, I tell him, is of the view that the more gadgets we have, the less we can think, and Higgs smiles and agrees: "I have a bit of that, too." His son gave him a mobile phone two months ago, but he is yet to make a call, and no one outside his family knows the number. "I resent being disturbed in this way. Why should people be able to interrupt me like that?" Because they like to be in touch?

Damn true, the more gadgets we have, the less we can think. I feel overwhelmed by technology these last few years. The only moment I can feel really in control is when I only take a few math papers with me and go do my laundry. No phone, no internet, no tv, no nothing...

> It is true he has never liked the popular nickname for his particle – "the God particle" – but not, as has been reported, because he doesn't want to offend religious sensibilities. If anything, his objection is the opposite. "For a start, I'm not a believer. Some people get confused between the science and the theology. They claim that what happened at Cern proves the existence of God. The church in Spain has also been guilty of using that name as evidence for what they want to prove."

> People write to him claiming the God particle was predicted in the Torah, the Qur'an and the Buddhist scriptures, which only makes him regret the nickname more, "Because it reinforces confused thinking in the heads of people who are already thinking in a confused way." He doesn't bother trying to change their minds. "If they believe that story about creation in seven days," he muses, "are they being intelligent?"

That last sentence, that's tactless. I like it.

The numbers make the problem clear. In 2007, the year before CERN first powered up the LHC, the lab produced 142 master's and Ph.D. theses, according to the lab's document server. Last year it produced 327. (Fermilab chipped in 54.) That abundance seems unlikely to vanish anytime soon, as last year ATLAS had 1000 grad students and CMS had 900.

In contrast, the INSPIRE Web site, a database for particle physics, currently lists 124 postdocs worldwide in experimental high-energy physics, the sort of work LHC grads have trained for.

The situation is equally difficult for postdocs trying to make the jump to a junior faculty position or a permanent job at a national lab. The Snowmass Young Physicists survey received responses from 956 early-career researchers, including 343 postdocs. But INSPIRE currently lists just 152 "junior" positions, including 61 in North America. And the supply of jobs isn't likely to increase, says John Finley, an astrophysicist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, who is leading a search to replace two senior particle physicists. "For the most part, I don't think departments are looking to grow their particle physics programs," he says.

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previou...

A warning to non-western members about values at CERN:

"The cost [...] has been evaluated, taking into account realistic labor prices in different countries. The total cost is X (with a western equivalent value of Y)" [where Y>X]

source: LHCb calorimeters : Technical Design Report

ISBN: 9290831693 http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/494264

Nice.