It was announced on 4th July 2012 that the Higgs boson had been discovered in the CERN particle collider in Geneva, Switzerland. Scientists at the world's biggest atom smasher hailed the discovery of "the missing cornerstone of physics," cheering the apparent end of a decades-long quest for a new subatomic particle called the Higgs boson, or "God particle," which could help explain why all matter has mass and crack open a new realm of subatomic science. As the technical findings were announced by two independent teams involving more than 5,000 researchers, the usually sedate corridors of the European Center for Nuclear Research, or CERN, erupted in frequent applause and standing ovations. Physicists who spent their careers in pursuit of the particle shed tears.