Author Archives: Jon Butterworth

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About Jon Butterworth

UCL Physics prof, works on LHC, writes (books, Cosmic Shambles and elsewhere). Citizen of England, UK, Europe & Nowhere, apparently.

Is there any such thing as “nothing”?

Posted on 12/05/2013 by Jon Butterworth

That’s a question I got on twitter just now after the Feynman gig from @elainepixie. I said (broken down into 140 character chunks): One definition of “nothing” is “vacuum”, by which physicists mean “lowest energy state”. That exists. But in … Continue reading →

Posted in Particle Physics, Philosophy, Physics, Science | Tagged | 1 Comment

Feynman: his birthday, his diagrams and his lectures

Posted on 12/05/2013 by Jon Butterworth

Yesterday was the 95th anniversary of the birth of Richard Feynman, one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. An excuse for an unusual party At the Guardian. See also Chapter 8.3 of Smashing Physics.

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There is no alternative!

Posted on 04/05/2013 by Jon Butterworth

By Michael Krämer at the Guardian.

Posted in Philosophy, Science | Comments Off on There is no alternative!

Should we change the Higgs boson’s name?

Posted on 28/04/2013 by Jon Butterworth

I wrote this piece on the blog about Higgs boson naming, and was then asked to write something for g2. This appeared on the web here (not in the usual Life & Physics slot, hence this post so I can … Continue reading →

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