Why LHC?

Abstract

I discuss LHC physics in the historical perspective of the progress in particle physics. After a recap of the Standard Model of particle physics, I discuss the high energy colliders leading up to LHC and their role in the discovery of these SM particles. Then I discuss the two main physics issues of LHC, i.e. Higgs mechanism and Supersymmetry. I briefly touch upon Higgs and SUSY searches at LHC along with their cosmological implications.

Comments: Plenary review talk given at the XIth Workshop in High Energy Physics Phenomenology (WHEPP XI), Ahmedabad, India, 2-12 January 2010. Version to appear in the Proceedings