National Academy of Sciences concludes that physics in America is at a crossroads

Physics in America is at a crossroads and in crisis, just
as humanity stands on the verge of great discoveries about
the nature of matter and the universe, a panel from the
National Academy of Sciences concludes in a new report.

The United States should be prepared to spend up to half a
billion dollars in the next five years to ensure that a
giant particle accelerator now being designed by a
worldwide consortium of scientists can be built on
American soil, the panel said. If that does not happen,
particle physics, the quest for the fundamental forces and
constituents of nature, will wither in this country, it
said.

"That is a risky investment," Harold T. Shapiro, an
economist at Princeton and the chairman of the 22-member
commission, said Wednesday at a news conference in
Washington.

But, Mr. Shapiro added: "It's least risky path we could
find. To stay where we are is equivalent to folding our
cards."

Failure to build the machine, the International Linear
Collider, in the United States, the panel said, would
force American particle physicists to do their research in
Europe, where a major machine is to come online next year,
and other places, perhaps Japan.

The blow to American physics would erode the base of
science and technology that has fueled innovation,
provided intellectual and cultural inspiration and
bolstered national security over the last century.

The collider recommendation, along with others, was in a
new report, "Revealing the Hidden Nature of Space and
Time, Charting the Course for Elementary Particle
Physics." Among its other recommendations, the group said
the United States should energetically pursue
international collaborations in high-energy physics,
expand programs in related fields of research like
cosmology and underground experiments and take steps to
make a long-term plan for particle physics research and
then carry it out.