Big science and the LHC

Science and society...

Gian Francesco Giudice writes "...I would like to address a question that, although foreign to the immediate research goals of the LHC, necessarily concerns every large scientific project that requires enormous financial, technological, and intellectual investments – the so-called phenomenon of Big Science. The magnitude, the complexity, and the profundity of aims of the LHC project arouse admiration and awe in the majority of people who learn about it. Nevertheless, doubts, misgivings, and even fear sometimes surface both outside and inside the scientific community regarding anything having to do with Big Science. So the question is: should society support large research projects in basic science?"

"BIG SCIENCE AND THE LHC" by Gian Francesco Giudice