.. despite its accomplishments and glamour, the world of particle physics is so abstract that few understand its implications, meaning or use.
Unlike a NASA probe sent to Mars, CERN’s research doesn’t produce stunning, tangible images.
Instead, the study of particle physics is best described by chalkboard equations and squiggly lines called Feynman diagrams. Aage Bohr, the Nobel laureate whose father Niels invented the Bohr model of the atom, and his colleague Ole Ulfbeck have even gone as far as to deny the physical existence of subatomic particles as anything more than mathematical models.
Which returns us to our original question: What happens when a beam of subatomic particles traveling at nearly the speed of light meets the flesh of the human body?
Source: Why we can stop worrying and love the particle accelerator | Aeon Ideas