In this article, I set out arguments why the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) :
the machine and the experiments with it, are a watershed for particle physics.
I give a historical perspective of the essential link between development of
particle accelerators and that in our knowledge of the laws governing
interactions among the fundamental particles, showing how this journey has
reached destination LHC. I explain how the decisions for the LHC design; the
energy and number of particles in the beam, were arrived at. I will end by
discussing the LHC physics agenda and the time line in which the particle
physicists hope to achieve it.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures, LaTe