Labour and STFC

Posted on 29/04/2010 by Jon Butterworth

So shortly after I wrote about the parties’ science policies and what their attitude to STFC might mean (here and here), Gordon Brown did reply to the CaSE letter, and also produced a science manifesto. He even specifically referred to STFC as a particular problem:

We recognise the concerns over the Science and Technology Facilities Council. We will learn the lessons from the structural difficulties faced by the STFC.

Grants will remain with the STFC to deliver investment continuity. We will remove the risk of foreign exchange impacts and put the STFC on a sound footing.

This confirms that not only Lord Drayson and BIS (which we knew!), but also Gordon Brown, have noticed the problem and give it some priority. Also, the straight commitment to remove the risk of foreign exchange looks stronger and blunter than previous statements and is very important and welcome.

However, referring to my previous article: what does “put the STFC on a sound footing” mean?

Specifically does it means that STFC no longer has to plan for further £26M annual cut in particle physics, nuclear physics and astronomy in 12/13?

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Posted in Politics, Science, Science Policy | Tagged | 3 Comments

Reality Check

Posted on 26/04/2010 by Jon Butterworth

I’ve been interviewing candidates for postdoc and PhD positions in particle physics at UCL. This against a backdrop of the start of high energy physics at the LHC, ongoing STFC cuts and government responses to them, and a general election in which science and higher education are at least occasionally noticed, now we realise we can’t rely entirely on the City of London to keep the UK economy in the top ten.

I have been alternately uplifted and depressed.

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Minimum Bias 1.5

Posted on 21/04/2010 by Jon Butterworth

A quick post to explain something about this, the first ATLAS physics results from LHC collisions at 7000 GeV.

The measurement is a repeat of the ATLAS minimum bias measurement at 900 GeV, except these protons hit each other at 7000 GeV, an energy 3.5 times higher than we ever managed before in an accelerator. (That link hopefully explains what “minimum bias” means.)

This is not a journal publication, it’s a “preliminary” measurement, to be presented at conferences. Hence the 1.5 in my title – we are working on 2.0, which is intended for a paper. But it is public, and it is useful to put it out there so it can be discussed by physicists who are not on ATLAS. And it does tell us something new.

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This is Not a Drill

Posted on 18/04/2010 by Jon Butterworth

See also Chapter 3.2 of Smashing Physics.

I haven’t been paying as much attention as I should to science policy in the election. Guilty, will re-engage. I have a good excuse, of course. Even after STFC cuts we’re still members of CERN, the LHC is running, and (volcanoes permitting) I am traveling, working and basically doing physics. And it’s exciting and absorbing.

The wires of the ZEUS tracking chamber (credit T.J.Fraser)

Typical scientist. We just get the data and get happy. In STFC related politicking, I’ve heard our big mistake was that in economic good times, when science was getting roughly its share of the growth (and particle physics was getting somewhat less, but not being cut), we just shut up and got on with science.

It’s fair to say we should have said thanks (Thanks!), but this argument was that we should have been aggressively pushing for more & more cash, just so there was more fat to cut when bad times came. This shows a gulf in understanding between the worlds of science and politics, sadly.

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Posted in Particle Physics, Physics, Politics, Science, Science Policy | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments