Collaborations on the starting blocks

<h5>The detectors are finished, the caverns are closed, and the experiments are taking their first data (courtesy of the cosmos). Together, the six experiments of the LHC represent a culmination of an immense international journey, one that has depended on technology and innovation that could barely have been imagined when the experiments were first proposed, some as long ago as 1992. Here we take a brief look at how they have each evolved since those early days.</h5>