494 



Problem. — How to decide on the funding level to support costly 

 basic research in high energy physics vis-a-vis research in other basic 

 disciplines ; in "big science" versus "little science" ; and in basic versus 

 applied science. 



Access to Congress. — Periodically, reports on proposals for costly 

 new research facilities in high energy physics emanated from the Presi- 

 dent's Science Advisory Committee, and from advisory groups to 

 the National Science Foundation and the Atomic Energj^ Commission. 

 The Joint Committee on Atomic Energy maintained statutory surveil- 

 lance over atomic matters, including most of the proposals for high 

 energy research outlaj^s. 



The facts. — The discipline of high energy physics takes its name 

 from the fact that penetration of the very short intranuclear region by 

 fast-moving particles for research purposes requires very high energies. 

 The projected particles need to liave velocities measured in billions of 

 electron volts. Accelerating particles to these energies calls for expen- 

 sive installations. The cost of this program to the United States has 

 risen from $3.9 million in 1945 to more than $150 million in 1968. 

 The 200-Bev accelerator currently under construction at Weston, 111., 

 will cost an eventual $280 million to build and some $100 million a year 

 to operate. Although the United States has achieved world leadership 

 in high energy physics, interest elsewhere is keen, especially in the 

 Soviet Union and Western Europe ; any indication of a tapering off 

 in the rate of increase of U.S. support is criticized by U.S. high energy 

 physicists as relinquishment of this leadership. The field conmiands 

 high world respect as a science, attracts some of the ablest research 

 talent, and is asserted to deal with the most fundamental questions of 

 science. The social return from the Government investment in this field 

 is described in terms of (a) information about the ultimate composition 

 of matter, (b) training of researchers in the skills of problem solving. 

 Although no claims are advanced that discoveries will be economically 

 or militarily important, the possibility is not completely discounted. 

 One panel suggested that the United States and the Soviet Union 

 might join forces on research in this area : President Johnson encour- 

 aged further exploration of ways to internationalize this science. 



Sources., kinds of technical infommtion for Congress. — In the pre- 

 senting of a case to the Congress for Federal funding, no field of basic 

 research has surpassed high energy physics in the volume, scope, 

 variety of forms of presentation of data, detail of coverage, and num- 

 ber, and eminence of advocates. Notable use has been made of advisory 

 panels to assemble information and technical recommendations for 

 consideration. Reports of such panels generally call for stronger Gov- 

 ernment support for the discipline, emphasize its fundamental sig- 

 nificance, stress the ripeness of the field for deeper penetration and 

 important discoveries, suggest the ancillary benefits, outline schedules 

 of additional hardware to be built, and assess the relative status of 

 U.S. and foreign research. 



Decision. — No major issue has arisen in the discipline that has called 

 for a decisive action; decisionmaking has been evolutionary and 

 gradual, with outlays increasing year by year without radical change 

 in emphasis or direction. 



Decision locvs. — A key role is occupied by the Joint Committee on 

 Atomic Energy, because of the continuity of its exposure to the tech- 



