Homer Simpson predicts Mass of the Higgs Boson

[n2doc]

'If you work it out you get the mass of a Higgs boson that's only a bit larger than the nano-mass of a Higgs boson actually is.

'It's kind of amazing as Homer makes this prediction 14 years before it was discovered.'

He added: 'One of the equations relates to Fermat's Last Theorem, and my first book was about all about this notorious equations, so leapt out of the screen.

'My PhD is in particle physics, so I was similarly shocked by Homer's equation predicting the mass of the Higgs boson.'


more

http://closedpress.com/homer-simpson-predicts-mass-of-the-higgs-boson/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2975606/Did-Homer-Simpson-discover-HIGGS-BOSON-Maths-1998-episode-predicts-particle-s-mass-14-years-CERN.html#ixzz3TG4VgewA

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Apparently, he's also transformed a doughnut into a sphere ...

i.e. a surface of topological genus 1 to a surface of genus 0.

Or maybe that's just a depiction of donut metabolism.

On the Fermat violation -- he does have two odd numbers adding to give an even sum, but a quick check mod 3 shows 0¹² + 0¹² = 2¹² which won't work.

[jakeXT]

5. near miss solution

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Is that *identically* 1/137, or is it the fine structure constant (1/137.0...) ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine-structure_constant#Measurement

[JohnnyRingo]

3. If you put a monkey at a keyboard....

Actually, it may be much less of a coincidence than that.

In the Daily Mail article it says that writer David X Cohen was indeed a gifted mathematician at a young age. He contacted a former classmate who went on to become an astronomer in writing this episode to get a workable equation for the blackboard. That scientist gave him the work from his own estimate on the as yet unnamed fundamental particle. ...or something.

Smart writing is what makes The Simpsons great.

[packman]

4. How dumb can he be?

He works in a nuclear power plant.

[iandhr]

7. He has caused a few meltdowns

[TheCrankyLiberal]

8. More than meets the eye.

I get this creeping feeling that The Simpsons along with other animations have been a subtle societal trainer, carefully produced by a benevolent group who help nurture our mindset in ways that further society. Not in a foil hat kind of way but in a saged wisdom meets object lesson way. It only took 60 short years for Americans to be comfortable sitting on the couch and opening that suggestible mind right up to any old thing. The Simpsons in particular have a history with subliminal imagery and suggestion. Why do they do it?

[BlancheSplanchnik]

9. because Matt Groening is a good guy?

And because it feels good to do Good?

Just the first thoughts that came to mind.

[TeamPooka]

10. Homer Simpson is not real. The Simpsons is a TV show written by a staff of writers. nt