Newswise — March 23, 2015 (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) – For nearly 50 years, the Higgs boson was a tantalizing missing piece of the particle physics puzzle, theorized to exist but undiscovered by experiment.

Finding it required the largest machine ever constructed – CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – and thousands of scientists from around the world working together to sift through the subatomic shrapnel of the LHC’s particle collisions. The 2012 discovery of the Higgs was one of the most anticipated and exciting events in scientific history.

Jon Butterworth was in the midst of the excitement. A professor at University College London (UCL) and a leading researcher at LHC’s ATLAS detector, he spent the better part of a decade in search of the Higgs. In his April 1 talk at Perimeter Institute, he will give a personal account of the struggles and triumphs of the quest to find “the most wanted particle.”

“There’s nothing like explaining the Large Hadron Collider and the Higgs discovery to a new set of people to make you realize how lucky you are to be a part of something that good,” says Butterworth.

The talk, part of the Perimeter Institute Public Lecture Series presented by Sun Life Financial, will be webcast live, and online viewers will be invited to submit questions for Butterworth via social media.

Apart from his research at research at UCL and CERN, Butterworth is an avid science communicator – he writes a blog for The Guardian, and recently published a book, Most Wanted Particle, published in Canada this past January.

“What’s the point of adding new knowledge if you’re the only one who knows it?” Butterworth says. “You’ve got to share the excitement. While it’s true that not everyone can be, or wants to be, a particle physicist, there’s a wonder in this exploration that ought to be shared.”

Butterworth’s public lecture will be webcast live on Wednesday April 1, 2015, at 7 pm EDT. Viewers can pose questions to Butterworth by tweeting to @Perimeter and using the hashtag #piLIVE. Click here to sign up to receive an email reminder about the live webcast.

View past PI Public Lectures and events, and find further details about PI’s research, training, and outreach activities at http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca.

________________________________________LIVE WEBCAST DETAILS• What: Jon Butterworth, The Most Wanted Particle• When: Wednesday, April 1, 7 pm EDT • Where: Live at Perimeter Institute, webcast online at http://www.perimeterinstitute.caClick here to sign up to receive an email reminder about the live webcast• Pose questions for Butterworth by tweeting @Perimeter using the hashtag #piLIVE• More info: http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/outreach/general-public/public-lecture-series________________________________________

ABOUT PERIMETER INSTITUTEPerimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI) is an independent, non-profit, scientific research organization working to advance our understanding of physical laws and develop new ideas about the very essence of space, time, matter, and information. Located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, PI also provides a wide array of research training and educational outreach activities to nurture scientific talent and share the importance of discovery and innovation among students, teachers, and the general public. In partnership with the Governments of Ontario and Canada, PI is a successful example of public-private collaboration in scientific research, training, and outreach. http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/ @Perimeter

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:Eamon O’FlynnExternal Relations Specialisteoflynn[at]perimeterinstitute[dot]ca(519) 569-7600 x5071@Perimeter

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