Posted on 06/02/2008 8:25:55 PM PDT by Flavius
article physics is one of the most intriguing scientific fields, probing the nature of the very makeup of the universe itself. However, over the last half decade, due to the growing economic crisis and various items such as war funding taking precedence in government budgets, the budget to help the U.S. stay leaders in the field of particle physics has been slipping.
The U.S. currently is down to only one remaining particle physics lab, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois, associated with the University of Chicago and the lab was looking to be on the way out. It had started in February rolling furlough program that slashed already scarce employee pay by 12.5 percent and forced them to take periodic unpaid leave.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailytech.com ...
Fermi Lab ping!
Gosh, I didn’t think I needed to add the /sarc tag.....
THOSE boffins produced RADAR, chaff, fibreglass and a host of other commercially viable things.
But, come on when was the last time you went to the corner market looking for a Higgs Boson or a odd charmed quark? Not lately I'll wager.
I'd settle for a decent auto fuel substitute at a dollar a gallon.... or less than 10P/liter
/sarc
Christians did some of that, but was Arab Muslims who did much of it. Even though they'd mostly stolen the knowledge from other cultures, including European.
For example, they stole the notion of "zero" as a place holder, from the Indians, and brought it to Spain, which they occupied during much of the Dark Ages. For the Dark Ages were mostly just dark in Europe, a consequence of the fall of the Roman Empire, and the attacks of the Muslims and the Mongols farther east.
Europeans were as likely to burn the old books, as to save and preserve them. (Of course that was somewhat true of the Arabs as well, and definitely true of the Mongols).
I don't think the original poster mentioned any religion, just anti science folks. For example while not a FReeper, Senator Proxmire was pretty anti science, especially basic science, but I haven't a clue if he was particularly religious, but he was a member of the United Church of Christ, not exactly a fundamentalist denomination.
You’re absolutely right.
Well there’s the chance that during an experiment, a little black hole opens up and sucks the Earth in.
I’m not at all anti-science. I loved it as a student. I’m just a little uncertain about experiments designed to figure out the Big Bang and how our universe happened, and where it’s going in the (very, very, very distant) future.
Probably not that generous. From the linked article:
Legally, Fermilab cannot officially accept the gift, but it will allow the University of Chicago to contract employees to work in the lab. Over 50 employees have already left the lab, allowing it to scrape $1M USD in savings.
Granted this isn't a scientific conclusion, but if they were only able to save a million bucks by 50 employees leaving, that only comes to 20k per employee.
In 2007, across the board salaries increases occurred, in addition to performance bonuses that permitted up to doubling the salary.
Likely the reason why only one million in savings was realized from 50 employees leaving is the carry over benefits to employees, contributions to unemployment, as well as severance opportunities.
How can we spend money on particle physics research when there are more pressing issues......like Global Warming.
Don’t feel bad, NASA is next....
Another one of the anti-science luddites lets us know he doesn't care or understand how important maintaining a certain level of basic science research is to our national well being. It's the fundamental science from projects like these that feeds the innovations from the private sector. Just because you don't understand what these projects do doesn't mean the people that matter don't.
The Dark Ages were called just that because CHristianity sought to destroy human knowledge if it in any way countered what the church wanted people to believe. The Renniasance and the Enlightenment changed all that. The Dark Ages, when everyone in the West was Christian and theocratic Church rule was absolute was a black hole of knowledge and literacy. It was a great leap backwards from the days of the Romans and Greeks.
I sure would like to meet Mr. Gum’t. He is such a generous guy.
This should make the anti-science crowd here very happy.
Please direct me to the section of the Constitution which authorizes the federal government to study experimental physics.
Or C. We can rely on privately funded scientific enterprises and charitable organizations. It doesn't have to be a one or the other type thing.
L'ing OL at people who think that posting on scientific-related topics on Internet chat boards makes them "scientists".
Of course that would be the opinion from a website dedicated to dismissing God.
Do you see it as at all ironic that you post such a comment on a website created by a Christian man, a site that affirms Christian principles? Here you are implying that Christianity seeks “to destroy human knowledge,” all the while relying on FR to communicate such an idea.
Again, I say, “Thank God for Christians” ... such as Jim Robinson.
Bro, there's a big difference between being a fiscally conservative cheapskate libertarian like me and an "anti-science luddite".
Coyoteman has earned a reputation of denigrating Christians whenever he can. "Anti-science" is his codeword for "Christian" (i.e., those who trust in Christ and believe Scripture to be true).
I thought it was an irrelevant and tacky thing to say, and (though it may derail this thread) I felt I needed to respond to it.
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