The Large Hadron Collider smashes protons into each other at close to the speed of light, creating showers of new particles which scientists can then observe. This picture, taken March 30, 2010, shows the first high-energy collisions in the CMS experiment.
- [Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images]

British physicist Peter Higgs, seen here visiting CERN's Large Hadron Collider in 2008, was one of six scientists who proposed the Higgs mechanism as a theory of how particles acquired mass.
- [/AFP/Getty Images]

The Large Hadron Collider's latest findings were announced in Geneva, Switzerland, by CERN Director-General Rolf-Dieter Hueuer (L), Atlas project leader Fabiola Gianotti (C) and CMS project leader Guido Tonelli (R). Their report was closely watched by scientists all over the world.
- [CERN/Courtesy]

This simulation shows two possible decay trails the Higgs boson was predicted to leave in the LHC's CMS detector. As the Higgs will be very short-lived, it cannot be observed directly but rather its production is inferred from the products of its decay.
- [David Barney/CERN/Courtesy]

This image shows proton collisions from the Large Hadron Collider's CMS experiment. Four high-energy electrons (green lines and red towers) are visible. The event shows characteristics expected from the decay of a Higgs boson but is also consistent with background Standard Model physics processes.
- [L. Taylor/T. McCauley/CERN/Courtesy]

Simulation by the LHC's Atlas experiment of the decay of a Higgs boson into 4 muons (yellow tracks), a type of heavy electron.
- [CERN/Courtesy]

The Large Hadron Collider, described as the most complex scientific project yet conducted, relies on the world's biggest superconducting solenoid magnet.
- [Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images]

Scientists at work in the control room of the Large Hadron Collider, September 10, 2008. The CERN facility lies in a tunnel 100 meters underground beneath the French-Swiss border, and employs more than 7,900 scientists and engineers representing over 600 research facilities and 113 nationalities.
- [Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images]