Of all the particles God made, the Higgs boson must be among the most distinctive. It can never be directly seen, only its tracks observed in a bubble chamber, it can be found only beyond a certain threshold, is not a particle at all but a so-called field effect, an invisible energy field that stretches throughout the universe, is fiendishly elusive (it took physicists four decades of search), was known and became part of physicist lore long before its existence was confirmed, and it gives weight and substance to the universe.

Someone with an oracular turn of mind might say: It is there and not there, essential yet ineffable, immanent yet evanescent, confers weight and existence yet can be barely said to exist itself, the insubstantial basic substance of the universe. Like so many other constructs of modern physics, this description shares a weird, surreal relation with the language of mysticism and religion. It took Moses 40 years to find the Promised Land and he couldn’t enter it. Physicists took 46 to find the boson and the man who first described it, Peter Higgs, wasn’t part of the voyage. So is this the True Grail, the end of the journey, and have we found God?

To the first part of the question the answer is a firm ‘yes’. Physics have indeed got complete confirmation of the universe according to the Standard Model. There’s a lot of work still to be done but no one really doubts that the explanation will hold. It’s all right to celebrate now. We know that part of the world that we can perceive. Now to get down to the 70 per cent or 95 per cent we don’t.

In one sense the journey has only properly begun now. One part is done but there’s a very long way before the end is sighted. It’s equally possible that this is a never-ending story, a road that continually forks, twists and turns and tantalises, doubling back into ever deeper thickets, all the while providing glimpses of what lies ahead so that we may not lose heart and give up. Have we found God, then?