2016/09/14 by James D. Wells, Wells, James D.
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph) #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1609.04268
openalex publication_date 2016/09/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 was one of the most significant developments of science in the last half century. A simplified history has Peter Higgs positing it in the mid-1960s followed by a long wait while experimentalists progressively turned up collider energies until it appeared several decades later. However, in order for both the hypothesis and the experimental discovery to occur, a vast and complex theory ecosystem had to thrive in the years before Higgs's hypothesis and in the years that followed, building up to its discovery. It is further claimed that the Higgs boson hypothesis was an immoderate speculation, and therefore faith in theory argumentation and speculation was mandatory for the discovery program to proceed and reach its fulfillment. The Higgs boson could not have been discovered experimentally by accident.