INBOX
Speak your mind…
The Higgs boson is also referred to as the ‘God particle’
© Getty
Science discovery
■ Dear HIW,
What is the biggest scientific discovery of this millennium?
Jason Oxley
There have been many great discoveries in recent years, especially with technology advancing so quickly, but perhaps one of the most important and highest profile science breakthroughs of this millennium is the discovery of Higgs boson in 2012. The existence of this particle explains why all other particles have mass and fills in some major gaps in scientific theory.
This is just one of many big finds that have occurred this millennium, with each contributing to different areas of science. In the last decade alone, signs of ancient life have been discovered by the Curiosity rover on Mars, new life-saving vaccines have been developed, such as the Ebola vaccine in 2019, and on average biologists have named 18,000 new species each year.