In modern physics, no discovery or theory is made in isolation. Breakthrough findings -- like the so-called 'holy grail' evidence of cosmic inflation announced on Monday -- are almost always the work of many people, over decades.
And often, because of the complexity of testing almost anything in cosmology, those who predicted the finding have to wait for years or even decades to find out if they were right.
It happened to Peter Higgs. And now it's happened to Andrei Dmitriyevich Linde.
Linde was one of the key authors of the theory of cosmic inflation, which explains how the big bang played out in the first microseconds of the universe. It was exactly that which was apparently confirmed by Monday's blockbuster discovery.
So when Professor Chao-Lin Kuo, who helped lead the team behind the groundbreaking finding turned up at his door with a glass of champagne, you can forgive him for being a little emotional.
Watch the clip above to find out what it means to have your life's work confirmed in an instant of joy.