Higgs Boson announcement from Cern: LIVE Midday Prof Higgs has said: I'm rather surprised that it happened in my lifetime - I certainly had no idea it would happen in my lifetime at the beginning, more than 40 years ago, because at the beginning people had no idea about where to look for it, so it's really amazing for me to find out that it's really enough... for a discovery claim. I think it shows amazing dedication by the young people involved with these colossal collaborations to persist in this way, on what is a really a very difficult task. I congratulate them. 11.57am Comedian Dara O Briain explains 11.46am LHC achievement is the equivalent of the discovery of DNA and man landing on the Moon, claims Professor Sir Peter Knight, President of the Institute of Physics (IOP). This is the physics version of the discovery of DNA. It sets the course for a brand new adventure in our efforts to understand the fabric of our Universe. This is a remarkable achievement. Fifteen years of international collaboration and hard work constructing the Large Hadron Collider has paid off. Akin to a Moon mission, one of the most remarkable things about the hunt for the Higgs is how the effort has caught the public imagination. Not since the Apollo missions 40 years ago has there been such a sense of popular excitement around scientific discovery. Long may this continue to inspire the next generation of scientists. 11.33am At last it all becomes clear. Peter Clarke, Professor of Physics at the University of Edinburgh, provides a helpful analogy to help explain just how important the Higgs boson is to the understanding of physics. Asked to describe it in laymans' terms, he explained: If we were discovering the human body and found a little finger on one hand, after we had already seen five fingers on the other hand, that would be important but not unexpected. It's not really adding much to what we already know. Some sorts of particles can be like that - very important but predicted. This is like discovering the heart; without it the entire model of the human body does not work. That is the significance of this particle. He has also explained the Higgs mechanism, using the example of trying to push a balloon (representing a massless particle) through a room while wearing a blindfold. If that room were to be filled with treacle, he explained, the balloon would feel heavy. The treacle in this instance is comparable to the Higgs mechanism, permanently giving the object mass. Prof Clarke added he hopes the work of Peter Higgs work and his colleagues is considered worthy of a Nobel Prize. I think many of us have believed for a long time that this work is very close to being deserving of a Nobel Prize. I hope it's considered worthy. 11.23am The press conference closes 11.16am Controversial question. The panel is asked how they can justify the huge budget in light of the economic crisis around the world. Director general Rolf Heuer replies If there is no fundamental science then there is no basis for applied science. We have to strike a balance. 23 years ago the World Wide Web was born here. It has changed the world dramatically 11.05am Ask a silly question and you get a serious answer. When a journalist asked the scientists what was the best and worst metaphor in relation to the Higgs Boson, they got a brusque reply from the director general Rolf Heuer. The plartform is metaphorless 11.02am Professor Higgs asked to say a few words at the press conference but he seems slightly irritated at the suggestion. I say this is not the occasion for that discussion. Let us continue with the main topic 10.52am Tom Chivers found this... 10.44am The Press Association writes: Scientists today hailed the "momentous" discovery of what appears to be the "God particle" that gives matter mass and holds the fabric of the universe together. Teams at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the £2.6 billion atom smashing machine near Geneva, say they have found a new sub-atomic particle "consistent" with the Higgs boson. The results are preliminary and more work is needed before the scientists can be sure of what "species" of particle they have captured. But observations carried out so far show it looks and acts like the long-sought particle that has eluded them for 50 years 10.40am Ian Sample from the Guardian asks whether the weeks have been emotional? One of the scientists replies 10.38am Nick Collins, the Daily Telegraph science correspondent, asks whether Peter Higgs and the Cern team deserve a Nobel Prize. Director General Rolf Heuer replies I don't think my opinion counts but it was great work. 10.19am The press conference opens with a nice gag. CERN Director General Rolf Heuer says I think there could be worse days in the life of a director general of Cern 10.15am They may know how to find a minute atomic particle but they can't use a microphone. Press conference delayed by sound technical difficulties. 10.12 Peter Higgs has said this is "really the most incredible thing that has happened in my lifetime" 10.08am The announcement has been called a "momentous day for science. Telegraph reporters Ceri Perkins, and Nick Collins say: Scientists believe they have captured the elusive "God particle" that gives matter mass and holds the physical fabric of the universe together. The historic announcement came in a progress report from the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator. Professor John Womersley, chief executive of the Science and technology Facilities Council, told reporters at a briefing in London: "They have discovered a particle consistent with the Higgs boson. Discovery is the important word. That is confirmed. It's a momentous day for science. Scientists say it is a 5 sigma result which means they are 99.999% sure they have found a new particle. 10.00am Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, scientists explained this could be be "one of the most significant steps" in human understanding of the universe and an "historic day" for physics. Professor Jim Virdee, head of physics at Imperial College, said: I suspect it's going to be a historic day. I think it will be one of the most significant steps we have taken in our understanding of how the universe works. Calling it the "key missing element" in the understanding of the universe, he said: "Finding the Higgs boson will actually allow us to understand very deeply what's going on and open up more questions. It's a portal from 20th century science to 21st century science. He added it could be "a great example" of a discovery that would "change they way we live." Professor Jon Butterworth, head of astronomy and physics at UCL, said: I think it's going to be very exciting. We are really looking over the threshold in physics that we never look over before. He added a potential discovery would "give us clues to answer the other big questions." 9.55am Telegraph blogger Tom Chivers explains: So after all last night's confusion over the Large Hadron Collider and the Higgs boson - have they found it? Or have they simply made a series of home videos? - it appears that the elusive particle, or something like it, really has been found. I've been watching the live stream (see our live blog, here), and I have to admit it's several vertical kilometres above my pay grade, but here is what I've managed to glean from it. First, as was hinted yesterday, the CMS detector - one of the two major experiments at the Large Hadron Collider - has definitely found something. Prof James Incandela, the spokesman for the experiment, said they have seen something "very strong, very solid" at the 125GeV (gigaelectronvolt) mass, where they had thought they'd seen something in December. The first slide showed a curve of results, with a single bump up at 125GeV. It's hard to leave that [slide]. Sorry, I was lost for a moment," Prof Incandela said, wonderingly. The Atlas experiment has found a result in a similar (125Gev to 126GeV) range, Prof Fabiola Giannotti has told the audience. Second, there's still some confusion over whether it is the Standard Model Higgs, or something different. The results of the various collisions showed some variation: some "channels" showed something very Higgs-like, while others showed something different. It's not clear yet whether the difference between the two is statistical noise or whether there is something more. Sean Carroll, a physicist who is liveblogging the result for Discover magazine, asks: "Are we seeing a standard Higgs with a couple of statistical fluctuations, or are differences in different channels the sign of something new?" Third, whether it's the predicted Higgs or something subtly (or wildly) different, a new particle has almost certainly been spotted. With all the the CMS data combined, the result is a 4.9 standard deviation result. The arbitrary mark for a "discovery" is five standard deviations. Cern isn't announcing an official discovery - that is expected in the next few months - but it is around 99.9999 per cent likely that this isn't a statistical fluke. Prof Peter Higgs, the theorist who first predicted the existence of the Higgs boson, has told The Guardian that he "shall be asking my family to put some champagne in the fridge" this evening. Congratulations are due to everyone involved, it would seem. "It's hard not to get excited by these results," adds CERN Research Director Sergio Bertolucci Professor John Womersley. chief executive of the Science and technology Facilities Council, told reporters at a briefing in London: "They have discovered a particle consistent with the Higgs boson.