The New York Times published a lengthy, in-depth piece a couple of days ago entitled, "Chasing the Higgs Boson" (link). The article focused on two research groups based at different particle detectors at the Large Hadron Collider: ATLAS and CMS, and the race between them to "scoop" the other with the discovery of the Higgs.
The task at hand was extremely complex, with a Higgs particle thought to emerge "about once in every four billion collisions." Further, there was the matter of the particle's transiency
As soon as it was created, it would disintegrate in a shower of
lesser particles — sometimes, for example, in a flash of gamma rays, or
into a spray of lightweight particles.
So the signature of a Higgs boson or any other paradigm-shattering
new particle would be an unexpected excess of gamma rays or some other
particles — an anomalous bump on a graph. Dr. [Guido] Tonelli said this happened
about once a month now that the collider was running, but random flukes
would also produce bumps.
The two teams converged on the particle's apparent size — "According to Atlas, the new particle had a mass of 126 billion electron volts; according to CMS, it was 124 billion" — and ultimately the needed degree of statistical reliability was achieved.
The article has a strong personal focus, in addition to its scientific one. Leading figures in the search are profiled, with stories of researchers traveling between the LHC in Europe and their home countries to visit their families, interspersed with trips to scientific conferences in additional far-flung locations. And yet, when word of a possible breakthrough on the Higgs got out, these researchers wouldn't hesitate to revise their travel itineraries on a nanosecond's notice to head back to the LHC.