Why Bose is not the scientist after whom Higgs is named.

Boson Conundrum III; Why Bose is not the scientist after whom Higgs is named.

India is elated that Higgs is named after Indian scientist Bose, which is nonetheless a severe delusion.The Higgs particle among many other such particles, simply follows whats called Bose-Einstein statistics, for that reason its called a Boson, of which there are tons out there, and none of that is named after Bose.

As another example of such “misconception” an electron is a Fermion, but its not named after scientist Fermi. The electron among other particles such as neutrons and protons follow whats called Fermi-Dirac statistics; an underlying principle that governs behavior of such particles.

A very few particles (out of 1000s) are named after scientists, eg the so called mu meson was called a Yukawa Meson, although it turned out to be a misnomer. Mu-meson was found to be a lepton, rather than a meson, as was thought by Yukawa and others.

Now called Muon it belongs in the same class that an electron belongs to, leptons, which are both Fermions. Hence initially thought to be a Boson (because all mesons would be bosons) the muon is actually a Fermion (all leptons are Fermions).

Should we say; initially muon was named after Bose, then correctly; after Fermi? That would be HOKUM. Right thing would be to say; it was named after Hideki Yukawa (wrongly as a meson or boson) then it has been named as muon which is now a Fermion. But its still named after Yukawa; given to a misnomer-correction. It can be called Yukawa-Lepton MUON (instead of Yukawa Meson Mu).

Nowhere Bose or Fermi have been the scientists after whom this particle has been named. Bose and Fermi are scientists after whom a principle of physics or nature has been named but not a particle. That would clear any mischievous air.

Mesons are bosons, but Yukawa meson or mu meson, as it was called, is actually not a meson; hence it lost its privilege as a Boson. The Yukawa Meson, or actually the muon was thought to be a meson (mesons are always Boson), and turned out to be a lepton (leptons are always Fermions). That means if we are to believe propagandists SN Bose lost credit, because as a Boson, muon would be named after SN Bose. But the fact is, its Yukawa who lost some credit and not Bose.

Bose is not even in the picture here. He did not gain or lose credit. He simply invented the Bose-Einstein statistics that governs quantum mechanical particle behavior such as that of Higgs or photons, but not that of mu “bosons”. They are actually mu fermions; AND STILL the muons are not named after Fermi, but Yukawa. Similarly Higgs is not named after Bose but Peter Higgs.

Also a photon is a Boson, should we call it a particle named after Bose? No body in his right mind and right knowledge would claim so, except a propagandist media and credit seekers, unfortunately Indian media is spreading a falsified information that this (Higgs) Boson is named after Indian scientist Bose. Its named after Peter Higgs who actually discovered this, among 3 other scientists. What if someday “some” Higgs Boson turn out, not to be Boson. (just like Yukawa’s mu “Boson” turned out not to be a Boson)

Its a great honor for the scientist Bose that the underlying principle governing the behavior of a bunch of particles (discovered or not yet discovered both) is named after him. But spreading such false ideas; such as HIGGS BOSON is named after Bose and not Higgs, is a very dangerous trait now established in India. It will very successfully kill science in India because every other group will re-create history after their own wish for politicizing the issue. I actually saw something like this in some private University’s web page. Give more power to change history and change history of science and welcome academic bigotry, from where we will see no U-turn. We would have killed all our sane judgement by that time.

Its better to focus on actual discovery that Indian scientific community can make than create a “science purana”, a myth that quenches our thirst for credit.