Beyond the God Particle Read Free

government that has such a voracious appetite.
     Voting against the Superconducting Super Collider is, for me, a very difficult decision. Much of the SSC's research and development is being conducted in colleges and universities in my own district. Nevertheless, I feel strongly that this is a prudent and responsible vote. If other nations will benefit from discoveries and technology produced by the SSC, why shouldn't they contribute to its construction? Or build their own? The Superconducting Super Collider is simply too expensive for the United States to build on our own. And I will not raise taxes on my overburdened wealthy constituents. The economy can only grow by the efforts of American businessmen. In fact, I'm planning to sign a brand new “pledge,” crafted by my dear friend, Mr. Grover Norquist, that I will never vote to raise taxes again.
     Our country has been a world leader in technology, and we must continue to support our nation's scientific research programs. The SSC, however, is a program that we simply cannot responsibly fund. Although proponents have argued that the potential scientific benefits outweigh the high costs and that the SSC should be an immediate priority, I'd just like to see a few more roads in my district and a lot more oil drilling and coal mining. And, I might add that if humans were meant to see quarks and “God Particles,” God would have given them tiny eyeballs.
    The final vote to support the continuation of funding for the SSC in the House of Representatives was 159–264, the nays having their way with it. The construction of the tunnel for the Superconducting Super Collider was about a third complete, and more than two billion dollars had already been spent.
    It wasn't just Congress's fault. There were many problems in the management and attempted execution of the SSC project and plenty of blame to go around. It's very hard to pinpoint exactly what killed the SSC because it was a mélange of reasons. We don't want to indulge in dredging it all up, and the interested reader can read about it at any of the numerous websites provided to you by high-energy physics and Mr. Tim Berners-Lee and associates. 4
    But for science, all of science, and as an engine of economic growth and prosperity in the US, the termination of the Superconducting Super Collider was an unmitigated disaster. If Congress was truly a body of leaders , it would have moved forward on the SSC and found a way to make it happen.
    The massive drilling machines of the SSC were abandoned in the half-completed tunnel where they stood. The tunnel itself carved in the frail Austin chalk, its sump pumps unplugged, has now filled with water, its walls soggy and collapsing, the heavy equipment dissolving away like some far-off shipwreck. Sage brush once again rolls in the wind through the downtown streets of Waxahachie, as plywood panels creak and shutters clap against walls, like some late-night replay of The Last Picture Show .

    IS IT RECOVERABLE?
    Over the years big science has increasingly fallen victim to the political process. Sadly, in the US, it seems not to be recovering. Particle physics in the US has not enjoyed the construction of a new cutting-edge particle accelerator since Fermilab's Tevatron was built in the 1980s (expanded with its Main Injector in the early 1990s). Big science in other fields, such as nuclear fusion and astrophysics, has also lost many similarly large-scale projects. Today, many people now question whether modern American-style democracy can ever manage grand science endeavors again. They wonder, are Americans, through visionless leadership, endless partisan bickering, and Machiavellian ultra-rich special interests and their lobbyists now destined only to sit watching TV in their devalued homes, fearing the mortgage collector, their jobs threatened, with their devalued currency, fighting multifront wars, making a mess of the planet with their fossil fuels, while the grand