Proceedings of the 1984 Summer Study on the Design and Utilization of the Superconducting Super Collider, June 23-July 13, 1984, Snowmass, Colorado

Donaldson, Rene (Editor), and Morfin, Jorge G. (Editor)

Published by Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physical Society, 1984

About this Item

xv, [1], 851, [1] pages. Illustrated endpapers. Illustrations, Figures. References. Author Index. Cover has some wear and soiling. Corners rubbed. Sticker residue on fep. Morfín is a senior scientist in the Particle Physics Division of Fermi National Accelerator laboratory. He received his Ph.D. from University of Michigan in 1970 and joined III Physikalisches Institut of Technische Hochschule Aachen to work on the Gargamelle experiment at CERN. He was deeply involved in the search for the weak neutral current, leading to its discovery in 1973, and in the determination of the structure of the nucleon. While at the TH Aachen he also participated in experiments using the large BEBC bubble chamber. As a founding member of CTEQ he proposed the CTEQ Summer School, an international school on QCD Analysis and Phenomenology. He is also currently on the editorial board of European Physics Journal C. He was vice-chair and chair of the International Physics Group (IPG) of the A.P.S., the forerunner of the current Forum on International Physics. He was a member of the APS Committee on International Scientific Affairs (CISA) and he was vice-chair and chair of Selection Committee for the A.P.S. Wheatley Award for promoting cooperation in International Physics. The Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) (also nicknamed the Desertron) was a particle accelerator complex under construction in the vicinity of Waxahachie, Texas. Its planned ring circumference was 87.1 kilometers (54.1 mi) with an energy of 20 TeV per proton and was set to be the world's largest and most energetic. It would have greatly surpassed the current record held by the Large Hadron Collider which has ring circumference 27 km (17 mi) and energy of 6.5 TeV per proton. The project's director was Roy Schwitters, a physicist at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Louis Ianniello served as its first Project Director for 15 months. The project was canceled in 1993 due to budget problems. During the design and the first construction stage, a heated debate ensued about the high cost of the project. In 1987, Congress was told the project could be completed for $4.4 billion, and it gained the enthusiastic support of Speaker Jim Wright of nearby Fort Worth, Texas. A recurring argument was the contrast with NASA's contribution to the International Space Station (ISS), a similar dollar amount. Critics of the project (Congressmen representing other US states and scientists working in non-SSC fields who felt the money would be better spent on their own fields) argued that the US could not afford both of them. Early in 1993 a group supported by funds from project contractors organized a public relations campaign to lobby Congress directly, but in June, the non-profit Project on Government Oversight released a draft audit report by the Department of Energy's Inspector General heavily criticizing the Super Collider for its high costs and poor management by officials in charge of it. Congress officially canceled the project October 21, 1993 after $2 billion had been spent. Many factors contributed to the cancellation: rising cost estimates (to $12bn); poor management by physicists and Department of Energy officials; the end of the need to prove the supremacy of American science with the collapse of the Soviet Union; belief that many smaller scientific experiments of equal merit could be funded for the same cost; Congress's desire to generally reduce spending (the USA was running a $255bn budget deficit); the reluctance of Texas Governor Ann Richards; and President Bill Clinton's initial lack of support for a project begun during the administrations of Richards's predecessor, Bill Clements, and Clinton's predecessors, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

Seller Inventory # 72359

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Proceedings of the 1984 Summer Study on the Design and Utilization of the Superconducting Super Collider, June 23-July 13, 1984, Snowmass, Colorado
• Publisher: Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physical Society
• Publication Date: 1984
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: Presumed first edition, first printing.
• Condition: Good +