[mkr-hn]

I'm going to summarize this based on my limited understanding, and hopefully someone can confirm or deny.

This is important because it confirmed the accuracy of the way we conceptualize the structure of the universe.

That means both the people who start and fund projects know that the basis of modern physics is sound. So the time and money won't be wasted by a surprise "nope, Higgs-boson isn't there" in the middle of a project based on the belief that it is.

[sp332]

Yup, this was the last particle predicted by the Standard Model. In addition to not having any evidence that it existed, we also didn't know exactly how massive it was, or how likely it was to show up in high-energy collisions.

Unfortunately, the Standard Model still doesn't have a good explanation for how quantum mechanics and gravity work together, so we know it's not complete. But at least the particle menagerie seems to be full :)

[fungi]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120501.html