( CNN ) -- Our understanding of physical reality â€ ” of everything and nothing â€ ” has changed forever . We do n't yet know where we are heading , but nothing will ever be the same . As a scientist , I do n't know what more I could ask for . On July 4 , two independent teams of more than 3,000 physicists apiece from more than 40 countries working at the largest particle accelerator on Earth at the European Center for Nuclear Research , or CERN , gathered to announce to the world the discovery of a new elementary particle . This was not just any elementary particle . It was a particle that appears to have all the characteristics of the Higgs boson , which was first predicted by physicists in 1964 and became the most sought-after particle ever since . The Higgs particle is an essential part of the Standard Model of particle physics , one of the most beautiful theories ever created by the human mind . The model provides an eloquent description of almost all of nature as we have observed in experiments in a few equations that can fit on a T-shirt . The only problem was that no experiment had ever provided evidence that the Higgs particle actually exists . News : Higgs boson is like ... a Justin Bieber fan ? Without the Higgs , the heart of the Standard Model is missing . The Higgs is associated with an invisible field predicted to permeate throughout all of space interacting with particles to give them mass . The Higgs is the key to unlocking the question : Why does matter have mass ? Equally importantly , the Higgs allows two of the four forces in nature -- the electromagnetic force and the weak force , which is responsible for most nuclear reactions -- to be unified and described by mathematics of the same type that describe the other two known forces , the so-called strong force and gravity . Quantum mechanics tells us that if such a Higgs field exists , then one can produce real particles out of the field if one throws enough energy into a small enough volume . The discovery of this new particle is notable for what it tells us , but also for what it does n't . There were some intriguing anomalies in the observation of this Higgslike particle . For example , the rate at which the new particle is produced seems to be slightly higher than the one predicted in the Standard Model . However , this could merely be a statistical fluke that results from the fact that to date only a few score of Higgs candidate events have been observed amongst billions of particle collisions . There are still important unanswered questions about the Standard Model and we have to verify that this remarkable theoretical house of cards can stand on its own . Deviations from the Standard Model prediction , if they are confirmed by more data , can shed light on these unknowns . What is the Higgs boson and why is it important ? First and foremost is the question of how the invisible background field tied to the existence of the Higgs came to be and why it has the properties it does . This field is simply posited to exist , and apparently it does . The Higgslike particle takes us a step closer to solving the mystery of the universe , which is inextricably connected to the mystery of our own origin . Likewise , other new physics is now more likely to be uncovered at CERN 's Large Hadron Collider , which will add to our knowledge base . We might , for example , find the particles that make up more than 90 % of the matter in our galaxy and all galaxies , which look dark to our eyes . And we might be provided with clues that reveal the trail to unraveling the ultimate holy grail of fundamental particle physics -- a quantum theory of gravity . Imagine that the visible universe and everything in it was once contained in a volume many times smaller than the size of a single atom . With a quantum theory of gravity , we may be able to trace the Big Bang expansion back to its very beginning , and understand precisely how our universe arose , presumably from nothing . Read more science news on Light Years . Whatever new door to reality the discovery of Higgs opens for us , the best days may be ahead . That possibility is what energizes us , and makes the continued effort to probe new corners of nature such an exciting part of the human adventure . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Lawrence M. Krauss .
Physicists discover a new particle that appears to be the highly sought after Higgs boson . Lawrence Krauss : Our understanding of physical reality has changed forever . He says the Higgs is the key to unlocking the question : Why does matter have mass ? Einstein : Higgslike particle brings us closer to understanding the nature of the universe and our universe .