Movie: Particle Fever

.       Particle Fever:  a brilliant science documentary.  This is the story of the development in Switzerland of the Large Hadron Collider and the task of proving the existence of the Higgs particle.  The Higgs particle has been referred to as “the God particle” because it may be the initial building block for the universe.  In 1964, Peter Higgs postulated the existence of a boson, which is a type of subatomic particle.  It cost the European Organization for Nuclear Research billions to prove its existence.  The movie presents the cooperative partnership that developed between theoretical and experimental physicists in order to learn whether the Higgs particle existed.  While the story’s premise may sound less than exciting, the whole process is explained within a structure that allows a non-scientist to understand and appreciate the tale.  For the film to succeed, it had to offer an entertaining verbal and visual presentation of mathematical theories.  The director, Mark Levinson, a physicist by training, successfully manages to keep the audience involved while remaining honest to the science.  There is no dull moment in this 99 minute film.  Part of the film’s success lies in allowing the individual physicists to tell the story with appropriate background scenes.  By focusing on a select few physicists, you learn what is at stake while also learning various backstories.  Levinson co-produced the film with David Kaplan, another physicist, who appears on screen.  Presumably, the fact that both Kaplan and Levinson are themselves physicists helped to relax the various physicists, which allowed for a discussion of theories, such as how matter was created, without the usual insider jargon.  Special acknowledgment also needs to go to the photographer director Claudia Raschke-Robinson, the editor Walter Murch, and whoever did the animation.  The film covers a number of years including the House Republicans killing U.S. funding of the project.  As you may recall, the Collider was initially intended to be built in Texas.  As explained by American physicist, Monica Dunford, the five story structure was built to house two things, smash them together and see what happens.  The resulting collision at astonishing speeds would either validate or repudiate the theory postulated by Peter Higgs.  While sharing the joys of success, the film does not hide the failures that were encountered.  If you have any interest in science, this film is a must see.