It is a remarkably harmonious international collaboration in which the UK has a leading role.

British scientists and engineers have prominent roles in construction, management and experimental teams and the UK makes a significant contribution to the LHC budget.

The LHC is physically located in a circular 27km (16.5m) long tunnel under the Swiss/French border outside Geneva, but as an international project the LHC crosses continents and many international borders. In the UK, engineers and scientists at 20 research sites are involved in designing and building equipment and analysing data.

This photo shows a view of the Large Hadron Collider in its tunnel at CERN (European particle physics laboratory) near Geneva, Switzerland. Scientists of the CERN started the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on September 10 for the first time and successfully.

the LHC is designed to accelerate subatomic particles to nearly the speed of light and then smash them together replicating conditions which prevailed in splitseconds after the "Big Bang" that created the Universe 13.7 billion years ago.

European Organisation for Nuclear Research scientists work at computers in the Cern's control center during the switch on operation of the Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest atom-smasher in a mission to answer some of the most perplexing questions in the cosmos control in Geneva, Switzerland.

Built in a tunnel 100 metres (325 feet) below ground in a complex straddling the French-Swiss border, the LHC is designed to accelerate subatomic particles to nearly the speed of light and then smash them together replicating conditions which prevailed in split-seconds after the "Big Bang" that created the Universe 13.7 billion years ago.

Scientists fired a first beam of protons around a 27-kilometer (17mile) tunnel housing the Large Hadron Collider. They hope to recreate conditions just after the so-called Big Bang. The international group of scientists plan to smash particles together to create, on a small-scale, re-enactments of the Big Bang.

Scientists fired a first beam of protons around a 27-kilometer (17mile) tunnel housing the Large Hadron Collider. They hope to recreate conditions just after the so-called Big Bang.

The international group of scientists plan to smash particles together to create, on a small-scale, re-enactments of the Big Bang.

Collider, the world's biggest atom-smasher in a mission to answer some of the most perplexing questions in the cosmos control in Geneva, Switzerland. Built in a tunnel 100 metres (325 feet) below ground in a complex straddling the French-Swiss border, the LHC is designed to accelerate sub-atomic particles to nearly the speed of light and then smash them together replicating conditions which prevailed in splitseconds after the "Big Bang" that created the Universe 13.7 billion years ago.

The LHC is still new, but its successor - the International Linear Collider (ILC) is already being discussed. So why build two high energy colliders that operate on the same principles? The LHC is a discovery machine, a general purpose tool that will open up new areas of physics and demonstrate the existence, or not, of predicted new laws and particles. The ILC is a precision instrument that will allow scientists to explore in detail the discoveries made by the LHC.