Mystery behind 'God particle' likely to be solved by 2012 end

Scientists have claimed that the answer to the biggest question in science - does the 'God particle' exist - is likely to be answered by the end of next year.

Scientists at the world's most powerful particle accelerator have predicted that within two years they will either find the Higgs boson, nicknamed the God particle, which is theoretically responsible for mass and without which there would be no gravity and no universe, or show conclusively that it does not exist.

Even the discovery that nature does not contain a Higgs particle will be a momentous event in physics. If this was shown to be true, scientists might have to abandon the "Standard Model", the best theory so far for explaining the fundamental mechanics of the universe.

Prof Rolf-Dieter Heuer, director general of Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, which coordinates the LHC project, said he had now 'officially' told the team to 'go into discovery mode'.

"I am confident that towards the end of 2012 we will have an answer to the Shakespearean question for the Higgs boson: to be or not to be," the Daily Mail quoted Heuer speaking at a news conference at the Royal Society.

Senior Cern scientist Professor Fabiola Gianotti, spokeswoman for the Atlas experiment, said, "In the next two years we expect to settle the question of the Standard Model Higgs boson and to discover something new. Perhaps nature has prepared a surprise. The important thing is we have to remain humble, because as Newton said, what we know is a drop and what we don't know is an ocean."