One of the two independent teams at the world’s biggest atom smasher says it has found strong evidence of a new subatomic particle that looks like the one believed to give all matter in the universe size and shape.

Joe Incandela, leader of one of the teams, told scientists at the European Center for Nuclear Research, or CERN, that the data has reached the level of certainty needed for a discovery.

But he has not yet confirmed that the new particle is indeed the tiny and elusive Higgs Boson, popularly referred to as the “God particle.”

Physicists at CERN are presenting their evidence to applause before a packed auditorium, where scientists waited overnight to attend. AFP