LOOKING FORWARD TO THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER

In this paper an overview of the Large Hadron Collider program and status is given, including a brief description of the scientific background from which this ambitious program evolved. The emphasis is on the status of the Standard Model Higgs Boson, searches for which are the key component of the LHC program. A description of the ATLAS one of the two large general purpose experiments designed to detect evidence for the Higgs Boson and other data of interest to searches for physics beyond the standard model.