The five-decade-long hunt for the elusive Higgs boson or the "God particle" has reached a milestone, with scientists at the CERN have finally discovered a new subatomic particle that looks like the one believed to be crucial for formation of the universe.

The Higgs boson theory was proposed by British physicist Peter Higgs in the 1960s - suggests the existence of an invisible force field and associated sub-atomic particle that permeates all things, working like glue to give form to stars, planets and even humans.

Higgs boson is believed to exist in an invisible field created by the Big Bang some 13.7 billion years ago. When some particles encounter the Higgs, they slow down and acquire mass, according to theory. Others, such as particles of light, encounter no obstacle.

Particle accelerators such as the LHC are used to systematically search for the particle over a range of masses where it could plausibly be. The LHC works by smashing together two beams of the sub-atomic particles called protons at close to light-speed. This generates a vast shower of particles that are only created at high energies. 

It is not the first machine to hunt for the particle. The LEP machine, which ran at Cern from 1989-2000, ruled out the Higgs up to a certain mass, and until it was switched off in 2011, the US Tevatron accelerator searched for the particle above this range.