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The machine behind the ‘God particle’ is on the hunt for dark matter

Researchers at CERN are firing up the Large Hadron Collider for the third time, hoping to make another historic discovery

By
July 8, 2022 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
A technician works in Large Hadron Collider tunnel of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN. (Laurent Gillieron/AP)
5 min

Ten years ago, a team operating the world’s largest particle collider made history by discovering the Higgs boson particle, a finding key to understanding the creation of the universe, earning it the nickname the “God particle.”

After a more than three year pause for upgrades, the accelerator, run by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, is collecting data again. This time it’s out to prove the existence of another mysterious substance — dark matter.