Experimental highlights of electroweak physics at hadron colliders

Hadron colliders have played a pivotal role in establishing the electroweak sector of the standard model at high precision. Highlights were the discovery of the W and Z bosons in 1983, the discovery of the top quark in 1995 and the high precision measurements of the mass of the W boson and the top quark. The Higgs boson is the final missing piece in the theory of electroweak interactions. In this article the discoveries and precision measurements of the W boson and top quark are reviewed, and the status of searches for the Higgs boson at hadron colliders is presented.