The Higgs Boson Announcement

Having earned a seat by camping out all night, Sara takes her place in the auditorium, and looks around. This is what she thinks:

In minutes, the screen in front of me will be flashing images of machinery, plots, results from the world’s most sophisticated experiment; but right now, the only projection is a sea of faces, in an auditorium, much like this one, at the other end of the world. At the international particle physics conference in Melbourne, physicists are glued to their chairs, in anticipation of what is to come.

“Today is a special day,” begins Heuer. It’s show time.

Here's what happens next: 

CERN - July 4 2012

Only The Longest Threads starts with a description of, first the excitement, and then the euphoria, at CERN on July 4 2012. Luckily, the tradition of live tweeting and blogging events had set in by then and many people with front row seats documented the discovery as it was unveiled. Reading their blow by blow accounts is a wonderful way to relive those triumphant moments. 

Here are two of my favorites:

Lizzy Davies' article in the Guardian - with tweets and quotes from Ian Sample 

Sean Carroll's Cosmic Variance Blog on Discover. (Check out the photographs!)