Riddle of God particle 'could be solved by 2012'

GENEVA (AP) — The search is all but over for a subatomic particle that is a crucial building block of the universe.

On Thursday, researchers at CERN confirmed that they have discovered a "Higgs Boson" — the long-sought "God particle."

GENEVA — Physicists said Thursday they are now confident they have discovered a crucial subatomic particle known as a Higgs boson – a major discovery that will go a long ways toward helping them explain why the universe is the way it is.

WASHINGTON — Physicists in Italy said Wednesday they are achingly close to concluding that what they found last year was the Higgs boson, the elusive “God particle.” They need to eliminate one last remote possibility that it’s something else. The long theorized subatomic particle would explain why matter has mass and has been called a missing cornerstone of physics. With new analyses, scientists are closer to being certain they found the crucial Higgs boson. But they want to be 99.9% positive, said Pauline Gagnon, a physicist with the European Center for Nuclear Research.

Morgan Freeman visited the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) tunnel yesterday, where CERN scientists discovered the the "God Particle," a type of Higgs Boson.

Peter Higgs, who invented the Higgs Boson, is an atheist and really doesn't like it that people call his particle "God." The Telegraph noted an excerpt from an interview with Higgs: But Prof Higgs, explained his distaste for the term in a BBC Scotland interview. He said: "First of all, I'm an atheist.

Fabiola Gianotti was in mid-flow when her audience at Cern, the particle physics lab near Geneva, spotted the result they had so long hoped for amid the garish fonts of her presentation and rose to their feet to whistle, cheer and roar their approval.

By Marc Chandler:The scientists at CERN's atom smasher have reported discovering a new particle. The scientists themselves avoid calling it the "God Particle", though it does not stop the media. Essentially, this particle, called Higgs Boson, is believed to create an invisible field that gives mass to matter.