Professor Higgs wipes a tear from his eye as fellow scientists find his 'God particle' on 'momentous day for science' - 40 years after he predicted its existence

The search for the 'God particle' is over.

Almost half a century after the existence of the Higgs boson – the particle that holds the universe together and gives it substance – was predicted, jubilant scientists announced that they appear to have found it.

Rolf Heuer, director-general of Cern, the home of the Large Hadron Collider, told a packed auditorium: 'As a layman, I would say we have it.'

He predicted the discovery will shed light on other mysteries of the universe and added: 'We have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature.'

Others compared the significance of the sighting to the first moon landing and to Christopher Columbus discovering America.

Newcastle-born Professor Peter Higgs, who dreamed up the concept of the particle that now bears his name while walking in the Scottish Highlands in 1964, was present at the announcement and wiped a tear from his eye.

He said: 'I never expected this to happen in my lifetime and shall be asking my family to put some champagne in the fridge.'

Stephen Hawking, who had bet $100 (£64) that the Higgs boson would never be found, said: 'This is an important result and should earn Peter Higgs the Nobel prize.'

David Cameron offered his congratulations and said he hoped the breakthrough would inspire a generation of researchers to keep Britain at the forefront of scientific discoveries.

The Higgs boson's role is to give the particles that make up atoms their mass. Without this mass, they would zip around the cosmos, unable to bind together to form the atoms that make stars and planets – and people.

Despite its fabled properties, the particle has eluded previous searches and not all scientists believed in its existence.