Mini-versions of the "Big Bang" which gave birth to the universe almost 14 billion years ago have been created within the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the giant machine probing the nature of matter near Geneva.
British scientists working on the LHC's Alice experiment were today celebrating the achievement, which opens up a new era in particle physics research.
The "Mini Bangs" were produced by smashing together lead ions - atoms of lead stripped of their electrons - together at enormous energies.
The collisions generated temperatures a million times hotter than the centre of the Sun, reproducing conditions not seen since just after the Big Bang.
Dr David Evans, a member of the UK team from the University of Birmingham, said: "We are thrilled with the achievement. The collisions generated mini Big Bangs and the highest temperatures and densities ever achieved in an experiment."
The Alice experiment is just one part of the LHC, whose circular beam tunnel runs for 16.7 miles, 100 metres below the French/Swiss border.
The experiment involves around 1,000 physicists and engineers from 100 institutes in 30 countries.
Britain's contribution includes eight physicists and engineers and seven PhD students from the University of Birmingham.
During the lead nuclei collisions Alice will download data at a rate of 1.2 gigabytes per second, producing the equivalent of more than three million CDs-worth of recorded information.