Photo: ©  2010 AP via AAP/MARTIAL TREZZINI

After decades of setbacks, the Hadron team last night pulled off one of the most complex and difficult experiments ever attempted by science.

By successfully smashing atoms together, they believe they have opened up a new era in science, are on the verge of cracking the laws of physics and could soon discover just how the universe was created.

There are plans to use the atom smasher hundreds more times this year, creating so much data that if it was burned onto CDs, that pile of discs would stand as tall as Mt Everest.

"It's a great day to be a particle physicist," said the head of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, Rolf Heuer, following the breakthrough result.

"A lot of people have waited a long time for this moment, but their patience and dedication is starting to pay dividends."

The so-called Big Bang Machine has so far cost over $5 billion and involved 10,000 scientists.