But, of course, as Keyworth must have realized, it's not that simple. It was, for example, possible for nuclear physicists to reach a consensus of sorts that the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) is what they most need to re-invigorate their field. Money would not have been budgeted to build CEBAF without that consensus. Somewhere else, however, the decision had to be made that nuclear physics is worth revitalizing.
Who decides it is more important to build CEBAF than a cold neutron source for solid-state physics? Who decides that any project in physics is more important than mapping the human genome? And who decides how much to give science when there are pressing social needs that go unmet? Ultimately, our elected representatives must make those decisions. Our responsibility is to inform the politicians of what our science can do—but they won't hear us if we speak with too many ...
