Author Sonia Luokkala has a chance encounter with one of the Higgs Boson team in Homer. Mingming Yang is traveling the world in search of compassion. She also has the heart of a poet and a gift for quotable sound bites.
Her name, she says, is Mingming Yang. Four years ago, near the Swiss-French border, she had taken a different journey. As a Ph.D. student at MIT, she was one of the central figures in a team of scientists who searched for the Higgs boson, a long-theorized but never-before-observed subatomic particle. It exists for less than a fraction of a second, and yet its discovery, possibly the greatest of modern physics, helps explain the origins of mass in the universe.
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"The fundamental purpose of science is to enrich the human spirit, to pursue the truth and beauty of this world," she told me.
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Her message seemed clear to those assembled: "Our humanity is where our brilliance lies," interprets Dylan Braund, a Bristol Bay fisherman who'd come to hear her speak. "We are here to do the best that we can do and thereby contribute our verse to the symphony of humanity."
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In the days after the Higgs boson findings were publicly announced, Yang remembers, the whole world was swirling. But the center of the storm — the students and researchers whose devotion had led to the discovery — was silent. Sleep-deprived and physically exhausted, they continued their work while the rest of the world celebrated. Though no honors or credit were given, she says, they smiled from deep inside.
"We had already been awarded by nature itself."
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"I am often asked, 'What is the use of the Higgs boson?' " she says. "I want to say, 'It is not to make use of.' "
This woman is what I dreamed of being when I was 16 or so... Ssssssiiiiighhhhh.
2 comments:
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"The fundamental purpose of science is to enrich the human spirit, to pursue the truth and beauty of this world" - a poignant and thought provoking piece. Thanks for sharing:)
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