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Stephen Hawking: I lost a $100 bet over Higgs boson discovery

In an interview with the BBC, the famed physicist says he lost a bet over the discovery of the Higgs boson particle.

(Credit: BBC Screenshot: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

There is much excitement over the discovery of the Higgs boson particle.

Physicists everywhere are, as I understand it, overjoyed that all of their theories have been proved to be correct. Which certainly puts them far ahead of any economists.

However, for one man this discovery has come with a cost.

For Stephen Hawking admitted to the BBC that he'd just lost $100 over Higgs boson's arrival.

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Hawking is clearly impressed with this breakthrough.

"It should earn Peter Higgs the Nobel Prize," he told the BBC.

There is, though, a certain melancholy for Hawking, too.

"It's a pity in a way," he said, "because the great advances from physics have come from experiments that gave results we didn't expect."

"For this reason," he continued, "I had a bet with Gordon Kane of Michigan University that the Higgs particle wouldn't be found."

Perhaps the best moment of the short interview is the sight of Hawking's smile as he says: "It seems I have just lost $100."

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