Higgs Boson Particle Wins Coveted Olisa Corcoran Award!

Winner of the fiercely competitive, glamorous and woefully under-publicized 2012 Olisa Corcoran Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellent Science: the Higgs Boson!

Higgs Boson, 2013.

Perhaps you didn't know that I have my own science prize. Are you jealous? Eh, get your own.

2012 brought us geeks confirmation (debated, though it might still be... and now there is news of a potential second boson) of the Higgs Boson particle.

Details, Higss Boson, 2013.

I will not insult my brainy blog readers with an elementary explanation of why this discovery at CERN is so important to the Standard Model of particle physics and how it may explain why otherwise massless elementary particles can cause matter to have mass. And never mind the tiresome misuse of the term "God particle."

I will instead show you my textile and thread interpretation of a decaying Higgs Boson!

Stitches: back, chain, split, satin, long & short.

I made the 4x4 inch piece as my contribution to the Phat Quarter Tiny Things Swap, for the Mr X Stitch-sponsored flickr group, which I organized. I chose the "tiny things" theme because this swap came up during the crazy busy holiday season and I wanted to encourage the wild creativity of the Phat Quarter members without putting too much pressure on everyone to produce larger art.

Happy to report that my swap partner, Riann, said the piece gave her a "nerdgasm." I am a huge fan of 'gasms as a class and look forward to further scientific discovery in the emerging new field of "Gasm Study."

This Higgs Boson now resides in British Columbia, Canada.

I blogged about the challenges of designing the piece. And please take some time to look at other pieces from the swap that are still making their way around the world, hurling through space like some other kind of massless boson.

And be sure to join us for the next Phat Quarter swap! I have tons of idea for fun new themes.

Higgs Boson Away!