How could man conceive a physical object without being able to observe or to perceive it by any of his senses?
Like electrons, protons or neutrons, elementary particles are the primordial constituents of matter. A science is dedicated to them: particle physics. One of the main characteristics of these particles is their infinitesimal size, this aspect makes their study laborious. Among them, the Higgs boson is an elementary particle whose existence was theoretically defined in 1964. Physicists (including Peter Higgs, François Englert and Robert Brout) built a theory on the existence of this particle that had never been observed before. The validation of this theory required the construction of the most powerful particle accelerator ever built by man: the LHC. Thanks to the efforts of thousands of researchers and the deployment of considerable resources, the construction was completed in 2008. It was only in 2012 that the Higgs boson was formally observed. The theory of 1964 could thus be validated.
[Ongoing exhibition > February / April 2024] – Galerie 12, rue des Beaux-Arts | Paris, France