Friday, 18 November 1988
1.
A STUDY OF THE SUPER COLLIDER BY THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET
OFFICE, undertaken at the request of the Senate Budget Committee,
analyzes the risks and benefits of the giant project. The report
was released just a week before the announcement that Waxahachie,
Texas, had been chosen as the site
(WN 11 Nov 88). The powerful
Texas congressional delegation should help prospects for eventual
funding. Even so stalwart a guardian of the federal treasury as
Sen. Gramm, of Gramm-Rudman fame, appears to have developed a
profound interest in the origin of the universe. But critics of
the SSC will find plenty of ammunition in the CBO report. High-
energy physicists represent just 3% of all active basic research
scientists and only about 0.6% of science PhD students. Yet,
high-energy physics already absorbs 6.6% of all federal spending
on basic science. The SSC would double that share over the next
six years. The report also casts doubt on the projected $4.4B
cost. The average cost of accelerators built by DOE in the 80's
has exceeded projections by 46%. Alternatives to the SSC include
the proposed Large Hadron Collider at CERN, or development of an
advanced linear electron-positron collider, either of which could
save the US up to $4B. (That's the equivalent of 40,000 NSF-sized
$100K grants!) But, these alternatives involve greater scientific
and technical uncertainty. The CBO report also points out that
Congress can decide to continue magnet development, but defer a
decision on construction until the current fiscal crisis lessens.
2
. ANDREI SAKHAROV WITHSTOOD EXILE IN GORKY,
but the nonstop
round of receptions and dinners in the US may be a tougher test.
At each occasion, he has repeated his carefully qualified appeal
for US support of perestroika, "with open eyes." At a Sunday
dinner in his honor at the National Academy of Sciences, which
elected him to membership in 1975, he was clearly moved when he
signed the book of members. Following a tribute by Sid Drell, he
recalled that in 1981 four members of the Soviet Academy openly
denounced him as a traitor for having written an open letter to
Drell with the title, "The Threat and Danger of a Thermonuclear
War." During this painful period, he said, the support of the
National Academy of Sciences never wavered. At a luncheon on
Tuesday, Sakharov was awarded the $50,000 Einstein Peace Prize.
3. SAKHAROV REMAINED OUTSPOKEN AT A DINNER HONORING EDWARD TELLER
on Wednesday, given by the neoconservative Ethics and Public
Policy Center. An award to Teller for his contributions to SDI
was presented by Sanford McDonnell of McDonnell-Douglas--a major
SDI contractor. Ronald Reagan appeared on video to praise Teller
as a "tireless advocate" of SDI. Teller's account of progress on
SDI made no mention x-ray lasers. He seemed to be describing
"brilliant pebbles" (WN 12 Aug 88).
Sakharov, alone in a beige
suit at the black-tie gathering of conservative elite, described
SDI as a costly error standing in the way of arms control, while
Gorbachev has brought a renewed hope of peace to the world.
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