Hawking disappointed at God Particle discovery

Cambridge scientist Professor Stephen Hawking has admitted he was disappointed at the discovery of the Higgs Boson - known as the God Particle.

Hawking is due to give a speech at the National Science Museum today and will say that: "Physics would be far more interesting if it had not been found."

The Higgs boson is theorised to give other particles mass. Had it not been detected last year at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the giant atom-smashing machine near Geneva, physicists would have had to reach for a more exotic solution to the mass problem.

Prof Hawking also said the discovery had come at a more personal cost - he lost a $100 bet.

"I had a bet with Gordon Kane of Michigan University that the Higgs particle wouldn't be found," he says. "The Nobel Prize cost me 100 dollars."