Cern

• Read: CERN - Analysis 'strongly indicates' new particle is Higgs boson.

Physicists say that they are now confident they have discovered the long-sought Higgs boson.

CERN has said that analysis "strongly indicates" that the new particle found last year is the Higgs boson.

Read: What is the Higgs boson? By Science Editor Lawrence McGinty

Professor Peter Higgs describes his surprise and amazement that the Higgs boson particle has been found:

Professor Peter Higgs, who first imagined the 'God Particle' which now bears his name said:

For the geeks: Atlas and CMS experiments at CERN see new particle at 126 GeV with 5 sigma.

For the non-geeks: CERN scientists find new particle. Looks like the Higgs boson, but not 100 per cent sure.

Professor Peter Higgs, the retired British physicist from Edinburgh University after whom the particle was named, was present at a packed seminar at the Geneva headquarters of Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research.

The professor dreamed up the concept of the Higgs mechanism to explain mass while walking in the Cairngorms in 1964.