ABSTRACT
As the biggest experimental device in the world, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), set up by the CERN (European Laboratory for Particle Physics), half in France and half in Switzerland, is a machine that can be described with superlative: 100 meters underground, particles are accelerated at 99.9999991 percent of the speed of light, execute some 11,245 rotations around the loop and collide with one another about 600 million times per second! The incredible complexity supporting these performance records has been designed for an even more incredible purpose: “a journey inside the deepest structure of matter,” to discover “the fundamental laws that determine the behavior of nature,” to understand “the rst principles that govern the universe,” and to provide “insights into the origin of the universe.” Respect. Admiration. Adoration even.
