By Tushna Commissariat
Published with the October issue of Physics World is a special big-science supplement where we take a good look at the specific challenges of designing and building humongous facilities such as ITER and the LHC –from how to get them funded to the engineering and scientific issues that have to be met before construction can begin. You can download a free copy of the PDF here.
So, our poll question for this week:
Do you think that “big science” facilities are value for money?
The options are “Yes”, “No” and “Depends on the project”.
Vote now on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/physicsworld“>Facebook.
Results just in
Last week we ran two polls, both of which were about the 2011 physics Nobel prize.
In our first poll we asked you which fields of physics deserved to win this year’s Nobel. We had more than 200 responses and here are some results.
Most people felt that “quantum information” would be a shoo-in with a 104 votes, followed by “neutrino oscillations” with 63 votes among others. Unfortunately, we did not have the foresight to include dark energy in the list, but one of our Facebook followers, Peter Moon, commented about an hour before the prize was awarded saying “The acceleration of the expansion of the universe is the most important and unexpected discovery of the last 30 years. Saul Perlmutter and his team from Berkeley responsible for the 1998 achievement deserve the prize, right now!” It looks as if he knew something that we didn’t!
Indeed, the prize was given “for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe through observations of distant supernovae” to Perlmutter and two members of a rival group that came to the same surprising conclusion. (Read an extensive history of the discovery here
Our second poll question asked “Has the 2011 Nobel Prize for Physics ‘for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe’ gone to the right people?” Some 88 of you answered with a “Yes”, while only 7 of you said “No”. So, that wraps up our Nobel polls, until next year!
