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Managing The World's Biggest, Most Expensive Research Project

Nobelist Sam Ting says his CERN experiment is like the United Nations—‘except we get something done.’ Here’s why GENEVA--"I don’t know what your rules are,” the particle physicist Sam Ting tells. the officials from the Soviet Union as they drink coffee in his Geneva office. “I don’t even care. What I am saying is this: When the announcement of a discovery is made, the people on the podium are the people who get the. credit. If you want your sci

Written byRobert Crease
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GENEVA--"I don’t know what your rules are,” the particle physicist Sam Ting tells. the officials from the Soviet Union as they drink coffee in his Geneva office. “I don’t even care. What I am saying is this: When the announcement of a discovery is made, the people on the podium are the people who get the. credit. If you want your scientists to get the credit they deserve, you will have to change your policies about not letting them work outside the Soviet Union. Obviously, the choice is up to you—not to me. “He smiles. “1 am just a scientist, a single professor at MIT” For the first time in the meeting the Soviet delegation laughs. Whatever they think about their rules and Ting’s desire that they break them, the Soviets know that he is not just a scientist, a single prof essor at MIT the leader of the biggest ...

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