CERN news: The Higgs boson was discovered by CMS and ATLAS in 2012 (Image: CERN) READ MORE The 17-mile (27km) long instrument, which sits deep under Geneva and parts of France, accelerates and collides particle to near the speed of light in hopes of recreating conditions present at the Big Bang. In 2012, CERN's ATLAS and CMS experiments announced to the world they have found evidence of the elusive Higgs boson particle. Since the 1970s, this boson was theorised to impart mass on other particles by interacting with the so-called Higgs field which permeates the Universe. Theoretical physicists Peter Higgs, Robert Brout and Francois Englert played a key role in the theoretical framework behind the particle.