Stanford Collider to Close Early, Cut 225 Staff

This is one of those stories that makes me glad that I’m not in high energy physics. Due to budget cuts in the DoE, a decision had to be made; close the SLAC or close Fermilab’s Tevatron. SLAC got the boot so the Tevatron could have a chance to find the Higgs boson before CERN opens the LHC. Ugh. You can read the article in Nature here.As a grad student, the most horrifying thing about all this is 225 people with unique, useful and specific skills suddenly looking for work. These are folks who are at the hight of their field. It’s only 225 people, but it is a sign of how the US is (at best) exporting scientific talent, particularly in high energy physics.