The LHC:: a new hadron collider for experimental physics

Abstract The Large Hadron Collider is now under construction at CERN. This accelerator will be by far the most powerful ever built, and will provide the current generation of experimental physicists with an extraordinary opportunity to make new discoveries. It will also provide accelerator scientists with a tool to test current theory and refine studies of possible future accelerators going to even higher energies. The environment of a collider is such that experts of both disciplines have to collaborate closely, and this will surely continue to be to the long-term advantage of our whole field of science.