Tevatron atom smasher shuts after more than 25 years

BBC News Website ^ | September 30, 2011 | Paul Rincon, Science editor, BBC News website

[lump in the melting pot]

One of the world's most powerful "atom smashers", at the leading edge of scientific discovery for a quarter of a century, is about to shut down.

The Tevatron facility near Chicago will fire its last particle beams on Friday after federal funding ran out.

Housed in a 6km-long circular tunnel under the Illinois prairie, the Tevatron leaves behind a rich scientific legacy.

This includes finding nature's heaviest elementary particle: the top quark.

Since 1985, engineers have been accelerating bunches of proton and antiproton particles around the Tevatron's main ring at close to the speed of light, then smashing them together in a bid to unlock the secrets of the Universe.

[lump in the melting pot]

The upshot is that the DOE could not come up with $35 million to keep funding this facility. Maybe because they spent $535 million to build solar panels that cost $6 and sell for $3? Weapons-grade morons...

[1rudeboy]

You are simply presenting the flipside of the coin. Why pay $35M for an obsolete machine?

[the invisib1e hand]

so, do we outsource atom-smashing now?

[Truth29]

Solyndra and other green projects are tied to Obama donors, and washing Federal dollars through to the Democrat reelection and patronage machine. In Obama’s world, that is far more important than any real basic research.

[DTogo]

What's it made of... that might be sold for scrap?

Can the empty underground donut be used for anything afterwards?

[Aevery_Freeman]

I was bummed when we lost the honor of having the largest particle accelerator in the world. I was bummed when we turned NASA into a Muslim outreach program. I was bummed when we quit pursuing nukes and started doing bio/wind/solar.

For the life of me I do not understand how it is Republicans that get labeled as the anti-science party.

Oh yes, the MSM. Nevermind.

[Aevery_Freeman]

CERN

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“Can the empty underground donut be used for anything afterwards?”

Illegals and Palestinians love tunnels. Let them both have it.

[1rudeboy]

Yup, to Switzerland . . . because we didn’t build the one planned for Texas.

[Aevery_Freeman]

CERN

[Red Badger]

Atom Smashers can now be on your desktop:

http://www.nature.com/news/2004/040927/full/news040927-8.html

[Prokopton]

Why pay $35M for an obsolete machine?

The scientists do not believe it is obsolete, but then what do they know about science.

[BillyBonebrake]

Sounds ideal for the next underground skateboard spot.

[DTogo]

Move Congress there... then lock the lid.

[Toddsterpatriot]

If GHWBush hadn’t screwed Illinois out of the SSC, we’d be kicking Switzerland’s ass right now.

[NonValueAdded]

$35m for basic scientific research or 50 times that to Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law? Decisions, decisions ...

[jpsb]

The machine is far from obsolete, but since yall “free traders” have put the nation under a huge burden of debt, we can not longer afford it. So it closes. Way to go “free traders”!

[lump in the melting pot]

The irony is that basic physics produces fundamental breakthroughs that could eventually lead to new energy sources (even solar panels that are significantly more efficient and thus economically feasible), i.e. the green economy the Won keeps babbling about. Products that cost $6 and sell for $3 violate the fundamental law of economics and will never lead to anything besides democrat party kickbacks.

I am at a point where I would not cross the street to piss on Obama or any of his cronies if they were on fire.

[BitWielder1]

Tell them it's for green energy, you'll get money then.
Not limitless energy, they don't want that, just a bottomless pit that they can throw money into, that will be funneled to Democrat donors.

[2001convSVT]

I hope they turn it into a high tech back drop for movies.