Who benefits?

Who benefits?

There are two types of benefit that the LHC project produces for the UK. The less easily measured benefits are:

• ·                                 new understanding of the physical world,
  
• ·                                 training of world class scientists and engineers,
  
• ·                                 maintenance of a vibrant, world class UK research base and,
  
• ·                                 a leading role in a major international project.
  

More easily appreciated are the knowledge, expertise and technology that is spun off from the LHC and can be directly applied to development of new medical, industrial and consumer technologies.

The science of the LHC is far removed from everyday life, but the fact that the science is so extreme constantly pushes the boundaries of existing technical and engineering solutions. Simply building the LHC has generated new technology.

The LHC is not primarily about building a better world. Rather, it allows us to test theories and ideas about how the Universe works, its origins and evolution. The questions asked, and answers found, are so fundamental that the information from LHC experiments will only be applied many years in the future, if at all. However, this is an experiment and one of the surprises from the experiment may be new science that can be applied almost immediately.