Scientists at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) in
Geneva were cheered like rock stars on July 4 when they formally
announced that they had almost certainly nabbed the biggest and
most elusive catch in modern physics: the Higgs boson. Dubbed
the "God particle," the Higgs boson is "the missing cornerstone
of particle physics," said CERN director Rolf Heuer. This
"milestone in our understanding of nature" essentially confirms
that the universe was formed the way scientists believe it was.
Two teams of atom-smashing researchers at CERN’s Large Hadron
Collider independently verified, with 99.99997 percent
certainty, the new subatomic particle, which is a near-perfect
fit for what physicists have expected of the Higgs boson since
its existence was first theorized 48 years ago. "It’s the
Higgs," British physicist Jim Al-Khalili tells Reuters. "The
announcement from CERN is even more definitive and clear-cut
than most of us expected. Nobel prizes all round." So what does
this all mean, and where does i