Scientists at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (Cern), which operates the £5bn atom-smasher on the Franco-Swiss border, are expected to restart high-energy operations on Tuesday morning.

Their aim is to steer speeding atomic particles into head-on collisions in a bid to mimic the conditions seen moments after the Big Bang.

Physicists also hope it will ultimately allow them to find the elusive Higgs boson, the so-called "God particle" that theoretically gives mass to other subatomic particles, and thus everything in the universe.
Large Hadron Collider to start high energy 'God Particle' hunt - Telegraph