One--a $211 million observatory to measure gravity waves, to be built at two sites thousands of miles apart--has undergone extensive peer review by scientists and a federal research agency and has been a part of the president's budget for the past two years. The other--a $130 million marine biotechnology center in downtown Baltimore--is a project pushed successfully for the past three years by its home state's congressional delegation.
Maryland's legislators are hardly the first to bypass scientific peer review in a drive for federal funds. Although several reports have documented a multibillion-dollar need to repair and upgrade the country's aging research laboratories, the question of how best to obtain such funds remains unresolved.
Although their projects entered the political process via different routes, the lobbyists hired to promote LIGO and the Columbus marine center say they agree on the right way to fund academic research facilities. In fact, it's hard ...
