An exciting day today, especially for scientists,
a milestone in our understanding of nature. Today, those scientists from the CERN Institute in Switzerland said
they've identified a new subatomic particle considered one of the building blocks of the universe.
So what does it mean? Atika Schubert reports on what could be the discovery of the elusive Higgs boson.
As a layman I would now say, I think we have it. You agree?
Until today, the so-called "God particle," the key to our understanding of the universe, existed only in theory, but not anymore. Collecting data like this,
scientists at CERN have announced the discovery with 99.999 percent certainty that the Higgs boson does exist,
the so-called "God particle."
Professor Peter Higgs, now 83 years old,
who first theorized its existence in 1964, was in the audience for this historic moment.
For me it's really an incredible thing that it happened in my lifetime.
So what exactly is the Higgs boson, and what does it do? Well, it gives matter mass. It's the stuff of our universe.
So, how does it work exactly? A field of subatomic particles, let's imagine that those particles are actually people in a party.
Somebody walks in who nobody knows. He has no problems crossing the room, because nobody stops to talk to him.
But what about somebody who is instantly recognizable, like President Obama?
As he walks in, people are immediately attracted to him, a crowd gathers round, and he finds it very difficult to cross the room.
This analogy, scientists say, is exactly like the Higgs boson.
As the Higgs boson comes into this field, other particles are attracted to it, and that's what creates mass. It's literally massive.
Now this, scientists say, is how the universe was able to be created in a sense.
This is how stars, galaxies, planets were able to spin themselves into existence. It's what led to you and me being here.
So how did scientists find it?
Well, with a massive particle collider at CERN, 27 kilometers of tunnels under Switzerland and France.
Researchers smashed particle beams together to see what's inside, effectively recreating the Big Bang trillions of times over and over.
And this is what they saw: subatomic debris, including the decayed remains of what they say appears to be the Higgs boson,
thereby proving its existence.
But the mysteries of the universe are not solved yet.
Consider this: all those galaxies, planets, and stars -- everything we can see -- well, they make up only four percent of the universe.
There's still a lot more to discover. Finding the Higgs boson, the god particle, just opens another door.