Stephen Hawking: 'I Lost $100 On Higgs Boson Bet'

Why Did The Higgs Boson Lose Stephen Hawking $100?
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Researchers at Cern may have made one of the most important announcements in scientific history on Wednesday, but not everyone was happy about it - including Stephen Hawking.

The Higgs Boson - the particle that gives other particles mass - was discovered by two independent experiments at the Cern particle accelerator in Switzerland.

In an interview with the BBC, Professor Hawking revealed his disappointment that the Higgs Boson was discovered exactly as expected, since science is often more interesting when results don't match the theories.

"This is an important result, and it should earn Peter Higgs a Nobel prize. But it is a pity in a way, because the great advances in physics have come from experiments that gave results we didn't expect," he said.

He also said he lost $100 on the find - having bet that something else even more amazing would turn up instead.

"I had a bet with Gordon Kane of Michigan University that the Higgs particle wouldn't be found. It seems I have just lost 100 dollars," he said.

Of course Hawking was also excited by the discovery, and paid tribute to the teams that worked on the experiments.