科學家尋找人稱上帝粒子的希格斯粒子

Some 200 scientists and other staffs gathered in Fermi Lab at 2 O'clock in the morning, to watch the announcement from Geneva.

大約200名科學家等工作人員早上 2 點鐘聚集在費米實驗室，觀看日內瓦的信息發佈。

Many of them have strong connections to the CERN experiment, using the atom-smashing Large Hadron Collider or LHC to locate the Higgs Boson, including the head of the CMS Group, Patricia McBride:

其中許多人都與歐洲核子研究中心(CERN)試驗有着緊密的聯繫，該試驗希望通過使用大型強子對撞機將原子粉碎，從而找到希格斯粒子(也叫上帝粒子)， CMS 小組的組長Patricia Mcbride也在場。

"The techniques we, that are being used there were, were first tried out here. A lot of the people, did, did their training here in Fermi Lab."

"CERN的實驗使用的技術，最初就是在我們這裏試用， CERN的許多人都在費米實驗室接受了培訓。"

Scientists have spent hundreds of millions of dollars creating technologically advanced devices that can smash atoms together, and tens of thousands of hours of manpower pouring over the resulting data.

科學家花費數億美元來創造技術先進的設備，這些設備能將許多原子在一起粉碎，另外，科學家們還花費了上萬小時的人工對相關的實驗數據進行處理。

But they now believe they have found what looks like the sub-atomic particle known as the Higgs Boson.

但是他們認爲已經發現了一種新的亞原子粒子，該粒子與被稱爲上帝粒子的希格斯粒子非常相像。

"It's one of our key missing links to our understanding of really how the universe is created."

"如果想要理解宇宙是如何真正被創建的，那麼希格斯粒子是最關鍵環節之一。"

Fermi Lab staff scientist Robert Roser says the Higgs Boson is a particle that attracts other particles and explains how matter has mass. This gives clues to how planets and ultimately life is formed.

費米實驗室的科研人員Robert Roser說，希格斯粒子能吸引其他粒子，它解釋了物質如何具有質量。這就給了我們星球以及最終生命是如何形成提供了線索。

But he points out his colleagues at CERN were careful to say they found a Higgs like object, but not the Higgs Boson itself.

但他也指出，CERN 的同事們在發佈信息時很小心，沒有說發現了希格斯粒子，而是說發現了類似希格斯粒子的物體。

"It's a subtle difference. So what they will do over the course of the next many years is to start to investigate all of its properties to see if it acts, if it smells, tastes and behaves the way they expect it to."

"這裏有點微妙，在接下來的許多年裏，他們將要做的就是對這個新發現進行全面研究，看它是如何運動，聞起來味道如何，品嚐起來味道如何，以及表現怎麼樣，看看它的這些特徵是否如科學家預計的那樣。"

Fermi Lab was home to the LHC's predecessor, the Tevatron Accelerator which went off line late last year.

費米實驗室是大型強子對撞機前輩Tevatron加速器的家，Tevatron加速器在去年底停止了工作。

Roser says the final data produced by the Tevatron is consistent with CERN's findings. He says it all leads up to dramatic change for scientists:

Roser說，Tevatron得出的數據與CERN的發現是一致的，他說這會給科學家們帶來巨大的變化：

"The finding of this will change the way scientists view the world immediately and will change the way I go to work tomorrow. In terms of how it affects the general public, not so much."

"這個發現將立即改變科學家們審視這個世界的方式，改變我明天的工作方式。但是關於對普通大衆並沒有多少影響。"

While it's not clear yet where the finding will ultimately lead, McBride and Roser say the technology developed to find the Higgs Boson has already produced tangible results, such as the cloud-based digital storage now used by mobile phones and computers.

雖然現在還不很清楚這個新發現將最終給我們帶來什麼，但McBride和Roser說，用於發現希格斯粒子的技術已經產生了許多看得見的成果，比如基於雲計算的數字儲存方法現在正被手機和計算機使用。

But Roser adds the real benefits are yet to come.

但是Roser說，新發現的真正好處現在還不知道：

"So it's not fairly necessary to ask me today what the practice benefit of the Higgs Boson is. I think we will know in the course of time what it is. But you know, that's said mankind has always asked the question why and we are one step closer to understanding that."

"因此，今天問我希格斯粒子的發現給我們帶來的實際的好處是什麼，我還不能回答。我認爲以後才能慢慢知道，但是要知道，有個諺語說，只要我人類問過爲什麼，那麼我們就距離了解這個問題靠近了一步。"

The next step, says Roser, is confirming without a scientific doubt that what they now believe is the Higgs Boson, actually is.

Roser說，科學家們的下一步是要毫無懷疑地確認現在認爲是希格斯粒子的東西實際上是什麼。