Conceptual illustration of a Higgs Field. The existence of a hypothetical particle known as the Higgs Boson is predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics. It is a product of the Higgs field that is used to explain why particles have mass. A series of experiments to detect this particle were carried out in 2010 and 2011 at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator at the European particle physics laboratory (CERN). The discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson was announced by scientists at CERN on the 4th July 2012. Further analysis will be needed to confirm the results.