Fasano says ‘God particle’ discovery has significance for Monmouth College Sociology and anthropology professor PETRA Kuppinger has had a pair of rather diverse items published this year—a chapter in the book Women, Leadership and Mosques: Changes in Contemporary Islamic Authority and an entry in the Encyclopedia of Consumption and Waste: The Social Science of Garbage. Titled “Women, Leadership, and Participation in Mosques and Beyond: Notes from Stuttgart, Germany,” Kuppinger’s chapter came out of a small workshop she attended three years ago at Oxford University. The organizers wanted to address a lack of literature and debate about women and leadership in contemporary Islamic contexts, mosques and theology at large. “My chapter probes into the complex roles of women in German mosques and, increasingly, other pious groups that meet in diverse public spaces or venues,” said Kuppinger. “I argue that leadership in a Muslim minority society is not limited to theological issues, but very importantly also includes elements of cultural and religious mediation and translation. Women in these contexts critically engage both mainstream German society and also the established patterns and structures of local mosques that often reflect patriarchal cultural elements.”
monmouth | winter 2013
Physics professor Chris Fasano has mixed emotions about the discovery of the Higgs boson, also known as the “God particle.” The subatomic particle, which physicists hypothesize is the source of matter in mass, was theorized in the 1960s by Peter Higgs. Its discovery was announced last summer at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland, the world’s largest and highestenergy particle accelerator, which was constructed to help discover it. On the one hand, said Fasano, “It would’ve been more fun if they hadn’t found it. Some of our greatest scientific discoveries have come when things don’t turn out like we thought.” Fasano referenced a famous quotation by physicist Enrico Fermi: “There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you’ve made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you’ve made a discovery.” Because a confirmation closes the door to further inquiry, Fasano said, he is “a little sad” that this quest has ended. “Searching for this particle has driven some really beautiful experiments and beautiful theory for the past 40 years,” he said. “It’s kind of like the Olympic athletes we watch. They spend their time training to win a gold medal. When they do win that gold medal, now what?” As is so often the case, the destination turns out to be the journey. But on the other hand, Fasano said there is still a bit of traveling to do. “The game is not over. Scientists will still need to detail this unstable particle’s properties, what it decays into and how likely it is to decay.” Fasano was upbeat when asked about what the particle’s discovery will mean for physics and in market applications, even though he said he couldn’t formulate an exact prediction. “Let me use a couple of stories to illustrate my point,” he said. “In the late 1980s, scientists were doing work with charge-coupled devices. The idea was to build a better particle
detector. But what happened is that these CCDs are now in the heart of every digital camera. Scientists didn’t set out to do that. The same thing happened with MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging). Scientists weren’t really trying to come up with a new medical technique. They just wanted better physics, but it led to a development that’s become part of our daily lives.” What scientists will be able to do because of the Higgs boson discovery is similarly uncertain, said Fasano, although he believes the way a “stunning” amount of data has been handled in the process will have effects on the world of high-speed computing. What is clearer, he said, is the need for scientists to have an open line of communication with businesspeople who can help market their discoveries. “That’s Monmouth College’s connection to this story,” said Fasano. “A while back, the National Science Foundation came up with a program that would help scientists start their own companies. But it hasn’t worked as well as they thought, and I think it’s because
monetizing a discovery is not in the language or culture of scientists. Fostering communication between people with entrepreneurial skills and people with scientific skills is a really good idea, and that’s the main thrust behind our new Center for Science and Business at Monmouth College.” Although a lot of dirt has been moved at its construction site, the center, which is scheduled for completion in March, does not feature a 17-mile tunnel like the Large Hadron Collider. But it will feature crossdisciplinary connections and collaboration between faculty and students. These connections, Fasano insists, are vital for turning the scientific discoveries of today into the useful products and technologies of tomorrow.
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