The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at 2575 Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park is hosting a free public lecture at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 31, on the significance of the discovery of what scientists say might be the subatomic particle known as the Higgs boson.

In the talk "In the Shadow of the Higgs," SLAC particle physics researcher Emanuel Strauss, who lives in France and works at the Geneva-based facility that made the discovery, will address the statement: "If the universe is the answer, what is the question?"

"Has the Higgs particle finally been found?" a SLAC statement asks. "Are we just seeing fluctuations of the quantum foam, or perhaps another particle not yet anticipated? What will we learn from additional data in the coming years?"

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