boson

noun

: a particle (such as a photon or meson) whose spin quantum number is zero or an integral number compare fermion
bosonic adjective

Examples of boson in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web On July 4, 2012, scientists at the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator, located 328 feet below the France-Switzerland border outside Geneva, announced that the existence of the Higgs boson — a wave theory first proposed in 1964 — had been proven. Michelle Tchea, Travel + Leisure, 1 June 2024 Compared to those tiny scales, the physicists operating the particle colliders that momentarily give rise to Higgs bosons exist for long, long times at distances far, far away. Quanta Magazine, 23 May 2024 Scientists dubbed this elusive particle the Higgs boson. Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Apr. 2024 Peter Higgs is the scientist whom the Higgs boson was named after. Leah Feiger, WIRED, 11 Apr. 2024 According to theory, the particles that carry that force — bosons — should be massless, like the photon that transmits light. Dennis Overbye, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2024 The Higgs boson completes the theory by helping give the other particles mass. Byadrian Cho, science.org, 28 Mar. 2024 After decades of theoretical prediction were borne out by the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson, which confirmed how other particles get their mass, CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has failed to find any other new fundamental particles. Daniel Garisto, Scientific American, 13 Dec. 2023 The panel also recommended participating in a future facility in either Europe or Japan, dedicated to studying the Higgs boson, the discovery of which in 2012 was key for understanding how other particles get their mass. Katrina Miller, New York Times, 7 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'boson.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Satyendranath Bose †1974 Indian physicist + -on entry 2

First Known Use

1947, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of boson was in 1947

Dictionary Entries Near boson

Cite this Entry

“Boson.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boson. Accessed 6 Jun. 2024.

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