Nobel Physicist Dies, Climate Ruling, and Eid al-Fitr

Shooter's Parents Sentenced

The parents of the convicted Oxford High School shooter were both sentenced yesterday to 10 to 15 years in state prison for their roles in failing to prevent their son from opening fire at his Michigan school in November 2021, killing four and wounding seven others. It is the first such conviction of parents of a child who committed a mass shooting in the US. 

Jennifer and James Crumbley were each found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in separate trials earlier this year. Prosecutors had argued the pair were grossly negligent of the dangers their son posed prior to the shooting, claiming signs of his mental instability and violent tendencies were clear, including during meetings the two parents had with school officials the day of the incident (see timeline). The then-15-year-old shooter used a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun his father had bought him as a gift four days before.

The shooter pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to life in prison without parole in December. 

'God Particle' Discoverer Dies

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Peter Higgs has died at age 94 following a short illness, the University of Edinburgh announced yesterday. Higgs, who was an emeritus professor at Edinburgh, is known for discovering the Higgs boson, a subatomic particle known colloquially as the “God particle.”  

In 1964, Higgs theorized the existence of an energy field and an accompanying chargeless particle that gives other particles their mass and exists throughout the universe (see explanation). For decades, physicists relied on the particle's existence to help explain quantum phenomena but could not detect it, leading one scientist to call it the “Goddamn Particle” (shortened to "God particle"). 

In 2012, physicists used the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland to smash two beams of particles together at almost light speed, attempting to recreate conditions moments after the Big Bang (see how it works). The experiment—considered one of the most sophisticated in human history—detected the Higgs boson for the first time, validating Higgs’ theory.

Today, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN—which operates the LHC—continues to probe the foundations of particle theory, including a search for never-before-seen “ghost” particles.

Landmark Climate Ruling

The European Court of Human Rights ruled yesterday that countries have an obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to protect people from the effects of climate change, marking the first successful international court ruling on climate change. The decision sets a legal precedent for climate litigation within the Council of Europe's 46 member states, including the 27 EU nations (see the difference).

Senior Women for Climate Protection, whose members are primarily in their 70s, argued their age and gender made them more vulnerable to the impacts of extreme heat brought on by climate change and Switzerland's failure to adequately regulate emissions violated their human rights. The ECHR said Switzerland's emission reduction efforts were inadequate and identified significant regulatory gaps. The Swiss government will need to decide how to fulfill its climate change obligations.

The court rejected two similar cases brought by six Portuguese youths and a former French mayor, citing procedural issues and a lack of territorial jurisdiction, respectively. The decisions come as new data revealed March was the 10th consecutive month to become the warmest on record. 

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