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Newsletter: Administration Concedes
U.S. Leadership in Fundamental Physicsby Robert Piccioni
Feb 28, 2011
The U.S. Department
of Energy decided to save $35 million by closing our nation’s last
high-energy particle accelerator. High-energy physics is the science of
the most fundamental particles and forces of nature. Since everything
we see is composed of those particles and driven by those forces,
high-energy physics is generally considered to be the cutting-edge of
science.
Shutting down the
Tevatron at Fermi National Laboratory effectively concedes leadership
in high-energy physics to other nations. Whatever future discoveries
will be made in this fundamental science, will no longer be made in the
U.S.
For most of a
century, the U.S. enjoyed a commanding lead in high-energy physics. All
six quarks, and most other important particles, were discovered by
American scientists using American particle accelerators. The U.S.
dominated the field, garnering over half the Nobel Prizes, attracting
the best and brightest young scientists from around the world, and
benefiting first and most from spin-off technologies for medical,
communications and military uses. I believe particle physics will also
enable development of new sources of cheap, clean, and abundant energy.
The atomic bombs,
which ended World War II, were developed by high-energy physicists. We
got the bomb before the Nazis and Japan (both of whom had nuclear
weapons programs) because we had the best scientists and the best
facilities. Imagine the cost we might have paid if we had been second
best.
The Tevatron was
America’s last and finest high-energy particle accelerator. American
scientists at the Tevatron were competing with Europeans to discover
the next major particle, the Higgs boson. DOE’s decision concedes that
contest, and all discoveries in this field for the foreseeable future.
With the last
space shuttle launch coming soon, the U.S. will no longer have the
capability for manned space travel. In this case, we will concede our
leadership to the Russians.
It’s fine to
proclaim that science is essential, that we must invest in science, and
that this is our “Sputnik Moment”; but talk is cheap—mere political
posturing. The DOE plans to spend $30 billion this coming year and has
“successfully obligated” $33 billion in stimulus funds. Yet, the
administration isn’t willing to spend 1/1000th of either sum to strive
for leadership in fundamental physics.
Our best and
brightest scientists could go overseas to assist in European or
Japanese physics research programs. Maybe it’s OK to outsource science.
If so, we could save vastly more money outsourcing the nation’s
defense. Our young sailors could train on British warships, allowing us
to sell our costly aircraft carriers and submarines to China.
Perhaps, our
shores could be protected by the British Navy, our soil protected by
the French Army, and our skies protected by the Luftwaffe.
Robert
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Dr Robert
Piccioni,
Author of "Everyone's
Guide to Atoms, Einstein, and the Universe"
and "
Can Life Be
Merely An Accident?"
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