  The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 was one of the most significant
developments of science in the last half century. A simplified history has
Peter Higgs positing it in the mid-1960s followed by a long wait while
experimentalists progressively turned up collider energies until it appeared
several decades later. However, in order for both the hypothesis and the
experimental discovery to occur, a vast and complex theory ecosystem had to
thrive in the years before Higgs's hypothesis and in the years that followed,
building up to its discovery. It is further claimed that the Higgs boson
hypothesis was an immoderate speculation, and therefore faith in theory
argumentation and speculation was mandatory for the discovery program to
proceed and reach its fulfillment. The Higgs boson could not have been
discovered experimentally by accident.
