Tunnel Visions : The Rise and Fall of the Superconducting Super Collider / Michael Riordan, Lillian Hoddeson, Adrienne W. Kolb.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Riordan, Michael, Author.

Hoddeson, Lillian, Author.

Kolb, Adrienne W., Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Supercolliders--United States.

Supercolliders.

Physics--United States.

Physics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (463 p.)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Starting in the 1950s, US physicists dominated the search for elementary particles; aided by the association of this research with national security, they held this position for decades. In an effort to maintain their hegemony and track down the elusive Higgs boson, they convinced President Reagan and Congress to support construction of the multibillion-dollar Superconducting Super Collider project in Texas-the largest basic-science project ever attempted. But after the Cold War ended and the estimated SSC cost surpassed ten billion dollars, Congress terminated the project in October 1993. Drawing on extensive archival research, contemporaneous press accounts, and over one hundred interviews with scientists, engineers, government officials, and others involved, Tunnel Visions tells the riveting story of the aborted SSC project. The authors examine the complex, interrelated causes for its demise, including problems of large-project management, continuing cost overruns, and lack of foreign contributions. In doing so, they ask whether Big Science has become too large and expensive, including whether academic scientists and their government overseers can effectively manage such an enormous undertaking.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Chapter one. Origins of the Super Collider

Chapter two. A New Frontier Outpost, 1983-88

Chapter three. Selling the Super Collider, 1983-88

Chapter five. Washington and the World, 1989-92

Chapter six. The Demise of the SSC, 1991-94

Chapter seven. Reactions, Recovery, and Analysis

Epilogue. The Higgs Boson Discovery

Appendix 1. Physics at the TeV Energy Scale

Appendix 2 List of Interviews

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780226305837

022630583X

OCLC:

925522706