Princeton University Department of Physics Public Lecture

The world’s largest scientific instrument is on the verge of completion. The Large Hadron Collider sits 15 stories underground in a tunnel measuring 16 miles in circumference in the countryside outside of Geneva, Switzerland. Powered by 1500 superconducting magnets running at superfluid liquid helium temperature, the LHC and its detectors are capable of probing distances billions of times smaller than the most advanced optical microscopes. The images captured at these distances are at the forefront of our theoretical understanding of Nature and promise to unearth the greatest mysteries of our time.