The Hunt at CERN

Proving the Higgs field exists required finding its associated particle: the Higgs boson. To create it, you need to pump an enormous amount of energy into a tiny space.

The LHC smashes protons together at 99.9999991 percent the speed of light, creating debris that includes rare particles. In 2012, two independent detectors confirmed a particle matching the Higgs boson's predicted properties. The discovery earned Higgs and François Englert the Nobel Prize.