In Europe, science collides with the bottom line

[unhappycamper]

In Europe, science collides with the bottom line
By Anthony Faiola
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 6, 2010; 9:46 PM

MEYRIN, Switzerland - Using a machine kept colder than space, scientists at the world's most ambitious international research facility are puzzling out the questions of the universe, working to re-create the cosmic soup served up by the Big Bang. But the famous institute is also facing a far more earthly conundrum: how to pay the bills.

An era of fiscal austerity is sweeping over Europe, with governments moving to slash record budget deficits and avoid a Greek-like debt crisis by cutting everything from aid for single mothers to once-sacred state jobs.

Under mounting political pressure, some countries are now balking at the mega-price tags of lofty regional cooperation projects such as the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), home to the "Big Bang Machine" that sprawls for miles across this complex straddling the picturesque border of Switzerland and France.

Under orders of Europe governments to cut costs, CERN officials say the institute is planning to mothball all nine particle accelerators at the facility beginning in 2012 - saving $25 million on electricity alone. It will mean a critical period of lost opportunities for visiting research fellows and a year without fresh data for projects, including one on the cusp of trapping an atom of antimatter to better understand the early formation of the universe.

"It will now take a little longer to answer some of these questions," said Rolf-Dieter Heuer, CERN's director general.



unhappycamper comment: And in the United States we continue to piss away our future on these two adventures in the sandbox.

[rurallib]

1. They build one of the greatest research facilities ever and then don't use it

fucking brilliant.

[piratefish08]

2. looks like they won't be disproving gawddidit anytime soon.

the fundies will be happy.