On the verge of a eureka moment

In an underground bunker in Switzerland scientists are edging closer to finding a particle that is fundamental to our understanding of physics, writes Martin Rees

THE excitement from Europe earlier this month was palpable. Experiments had hinted at the discovery of a new fundamental ingredient of nature — a particle called the Higgs boson. This wasn’t just any particle, but one that could tell us that the theory physicists have been using to understand matter’s fundamental building blocks for the past 50 years is premised on a secure foundation.

Even non-scientists — those for whom terms like Higgs field, gigaelectronvolt, and hadron are almost a foreign language — were thrilled, inspired by the notion that we are on the verge of unravelling mysteries previously beyond our grasp.