New Zealand scientists are welcoming the news that the so-called "God particle" - the Higgs boson - appears to have been discovered.
Scientists at CERN in Geneva confirmed last night (NZT) they had discovered a particle fitting the description of the Higgs boson in experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
The theoretical particle is key to the scientific understanding of all matter.
Physicists stressed the results presented at a joint conference in Melbourne and Geneva were preliminary.
They were unsure if the particle was the long sought-after Higgs boson or something more "exotic".
"The next step will be to determine the precise nature of the particle and its significance for our understanding of the universe," a CERN statement said.
CERN director general Rolf Heuer said it was a milestone in humankind's "understanding of nature".
"The discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson opens the way to more detailed studies, requiring larger statistics, which will pin down the new particle's properties, and is likely to shed light on other mysteries of our universe."
The head of Auckland University's physics department, Professor Richard Easther, said the news marks a huge step forward for particle physics.
"We are definitely seeing a new class of particle for the first time in 30 years, and this new particle looks like the long-sought Higgs boson," he said.
"If this identification holds up we will understand why subatomic particles have mass, a breakthrough that would rank with (Sir Ernest) Rutherford's discovery of the atomic nucleus."
Another Auckland University physicist, Dr David Krofcheck, is a member of CMS, one of two CERN collaborations hunting the Higg's boson.
Auckland University will host an international workshop next week, featuring leading international particle physics experts, who will discuss the implications of the discoveries at the LHC.
NZN