The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at European Particle Physics Center (CERN) near Geneva Switzerland has performed spectacularly well in its first major running period from December 2009 through February 2013. Data of unprecedented quality and quantity have been recorded for proton-proton collisions at energies of 7 and 8 Trillion electron Volts – the highest energies ever obtained by man. In this lecture, Joe Incandela will give an overview of the decades-long, worldwide effort to construct and operate the LHC accelerator and the ATLAS and CMS experiments that together represent the largest, most complex systems ever built for physics research. The scientific goals of the LHC program will be reviewed with emphasis on the Higgs boson whose role in defining the structure and evolution of our universe is profound, and whose unusual properties may have extraordinary implications. Highlights from the discovery announced July 4th and more recent studies by CMS with much more data will be shown, followed by a brief look at preparations, expectations and hopes for future results in years to come.