Imagine a time when eager young Republican congressmen from Texas pushed strongly for government spending on things like science and research. When conservatives actually thought that could mean an abundance of high-paying jobs and a stimulus to both the national and local economies. Crazy, right? It wasn’t so long ago, actually.
My friend Brantley Hargrove wrote the cover story in this week’s Dallas Observer, about the Super Collider, and how this region missed being on the forefront of history. From his story:
Thousands of physicists from all over the world, including [SMU physicist Ryszard] Stroynowski, pulled up stakes and migrated to the North Texas site as though it were Mecca, a holy place where the future of the field lay. They established physics departments at nearby universities and began construction of the Super Collider and the components they had to literally invent as they went along. But in 1993, after more than a decade of work and $2 billion spent, Congress canceled it. Its death rendered stillborn American hegemony in the physics world and drove a host of promising young minds from the field.
We also learn what’s become of the giant tunnels that would have led to one of humanity’s greatest discoveries. (Hint: it involves the mixing of fracking fluids.) Read Brantley’s entire story here.
