Sure, you’ve heard plenty about the Higgs boson (what’s a boson? is like a bosom? they’re only a letter apart, right?). Lately, it’s hard not to hear about the damn boson of Monsieur Higgs. The Higgs is everywhere on broadcast, Internet and print media. Pretty amazing for a tiny particle that has cost humankind billions of dollars, euros, and sheckels to find. The Higgs has now become so famous that the question is obvious: Was the Higgs search intended as real scientific inquiry or was it part of some viral marketing campaign?
Think: Herr Higgs and his incredible traveling boson has passed the event horizon of media hype. In fact, the Higgs boson has reached something of a hallowed benchmark. The shy particle of 1,000 physicists’ wet dreams is now as famous as Kim Kardashian. That’s right, it can call a meeting in Hollywood and agents, producers, cable companies, networks and JJ Abrams will dutifully show up.
Everybody wants to get Higgy. This kind of zeitgeist window doesn’t stay open forever, just ask Sony Betamax or Rebecca Black. The Higgs people need to do right by their subatomic particle and strike while the iron is hot. Get everyone’s favorite boson a TV show, “Hanging with Higgs?” They need to get it an interview with People magazine and video of the Higgs showing some beach skin on TMZ. This is the Higgs moment. Parlay the fame into more fame and some serious scratch. Kim did it — it should be easy for the “God” particle.
