I cannot let this day pass without mention of the Large Hadron Collider’s incredible achievement in validating Peter Higgs’ prediction of the so-called ‘God Particle’, which he made almost half a century ago in 1964.

The discovery, announced at CERN today, stands up there with Einstein’s theories of relativity and the discovery of DNA in its implications for how we understand ourselves and the universe we live in.

The importance of the Higgs boson’s discovery should not be underestimated. It is vindication of the Standard Model of particle physics, which in recent decades has come under fire by more exotic theories such as String Theory due to a hole in the model which today’s discovery now fills.

But spare a thought for the many physicists and others who bought into these bizarre theories. Having spent many years pursuing them, they are now totally discredited. Years of research have gone down the Swanee.