When particle physicists collide, some are transformed into children

There was a big meet in Granada to discuss the future of particle physics (which really means a meeting to discuss whether to build a Collider-saurus that would dwarf the Large Hadron Collider. An experimental particle physicist is peeved that some physicists doubt the value. He names no names, but can you guess who he has in mind here?:

However, this is the age of instant knowledge: a half hour internship will allow any internet surfer to feel they have become experts on any topic, and they will form an opinion on how science should and should not progress.

What’s worse, there are always disgruntled scientists around, who will take every chance they can at getting even with a system they dropped out of, maybe in pursuit of a better personal fulfilment. They know the stuff, or so they think, and they will try to inflict damage to their former field of study, getting their revenge! Internet gives them megaphons to reach out and collect a following among the instant-knowledge crowd. Tommaso Dorrigo, “The Future Of Particle Physics Discussed In Granada” at Science2.0

My, my. A commenter formed the correct impression and suggests, “Could you please answer the very valid questions raised by Sabine instead of smearing her like this?”

Yes, of course. Sabine Hossenfelder, author of Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray, has offered some shrewd analysis of the collider problem that theoretical physics now faces: “But it is no longer just an opinion: The LHC predictions based on naturalness arguments did, as a matter of fact, not work. So you might think that particle physicists would finally stop using them.”

In any event, the meeting wrapped up without a definite direction. There were “frank and open discussions” and “ “participants did not stay away from hard questions”:

Among the many “interesting questions” that she said Europe needed to address were the Higgs boson, dark matter and the “flavour problem”. “The Higgs is still mysterious [and] understanding the behaviour of the Higgs boson is a must.” Hamish Johnston, “European physicists look to the future of particle colliders” at Physics World

And the bleat goes on.

See also: Sabine Hossenfelder; Has the Large Hadron Collider “Broken Physics?”

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