Since the huge energies would approach those of the big bang, physicists examining the subatomic debris might be able to deduce how the universe was created, among other puzzles-what Nobel physicist Leon Lederman of the University of Chicago describes as "finding God."įor all its scientific merits, the SSC represents what Rep.
He's literally correct: the SSC would consume so much concrete that the industry calls it "the big pour." The machine, a 54-mile oval ring 150 feet beneath Waxahachie, Texas, would accelerate protons (hydrogen nuclei) to nearly the speed of light and crash them into one another.
In this year's budget message, President George Bush praised the SSC as "the concrete manifestation" of America's scientific leadership. Thirty-nine states have a university, firm or lab with a piece of the Superconducting Supercollider (SSC) pie. Consider a map drawn up by the Department of Energy (DOE). No, to understand why the House of Representatives last week voted $318 million for the machine that will perform these wonders, and why Congress may write checks for much of the rest of the $8 billion it will cost, forget the profound mysteries. It's not that lawmakers are so impressed that the proposed atom smasher (which would be the most powerful on earth) promises to solve such profound mysteries as where the elementary blocks i of matter called quarks come from. It won't cure cancer or improve the nation's defenses, but science's latest megaproject enjoys the kind of support in Congress usually reserved for tax cuts.
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