ON Friday, July 11 our speaker led us into a fascinating topic that exercised our minds more than in any other talk so far.

Stephen Haywood’s aim was to help us think about what makes the world tick from the standpoint of a physicist.

Entitled The God Particle: the Higgs Boson, the talk covered large-scale experiments and research into energy that scales a billion times more than that of a battery. The spin-offs are also massive, with implications on electronics and computing to name but a few. Stephen is Deputy Director of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, one of Europe’s largest research organisations and operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

The Higgs boson or Higgs particle is an elementary particle initially theorised in 1964, whose discovery was announced at CERN on July 4, 2012. The discovery is hugely significant in that it should enable physicists to validate the last untested area of the Standard Model's approach to fundamental particles and forces, to guide other theories and discoveries in particle physics, and potentially lead to further developments in physics.

Based in Geneva, CERN is The European Council for Nuclear Research. The term CERN is also used to refer to the laboratory, which employs just under 2,400 full-time employees and 1,500 part-time employees, and hosts some 10,000 visiting scientists and engineers, representing 608 universities and research facilities and 113 nationalities. Stephen observed that a lot of money is being paid to fund this research and proceeded to show us a number of varied and interesting slides on the subject.

The Higgs boson is named after Peter Higgs, one of six physicists who proposed the mechanism that suggested the existence of such a particle. A Nobel Prize in 2013 was the vindication of many years’ work in this field. For further information on the work to explore the fundamental nature of matter and the basic forces that shape our universe, please see the website: http://atlas.ch.

On Civic Society-related business, Chairman Clive Hooper confirmed how much we were looking forward to a most interesting array of exhibitions, talks and musical events lined up for Civic Week. For further information about the Civic Society, please see please see http://www.malverncivicsociety.org.uk.

There is now a break for the summer, with the next talk due to take place on Friday, September 12, entitled Hampton Court, Herefordshire, which will be given by Catherine Beale. It will be held as usual at 7.30pm at Christ Church in Avenue Road. There is an admission charge of £1 for all.

DENISE PRESTON