Investigating the Nature of Matter, Energy, Space, and Time
Opening Statement By Vice Chairman Paul Tonko
Today’s hearing will explore the DOE Office of Science’s research activities in high energy and nuclear physics, and their collaboration with related programs and projects carried out by the National Science Foundation and NASA - as well as our international partners.
In 1939, Albert Einstein sent a letter to FDR warning him of Germany’s advances in creating an atomic bomb. This spurred the President to begin the Manhattan Project, which gathered many of the greatest physicists of the 20th century from all over the world to successfully beat the Germans in a race of scientific and technological progress. After the end of the war, many of these physicists remained in the U.S. to resume their research in the basic nature of matter, energy, space, and time, a field also known as particle physics. Our country has historically supported significant research programs in these areas from this point forward.
Today, DOE alone has proposed a 2010 budget of over $1.3 billion for particle physics research and related technology development, which would continue to support about 4,000 scientists in over 100 universities and 9 DOE national laboratories. In this hearing I hope to get a better understanding of what fundamental questions remain to be answered, and what the American taxpayers are receiving in return for this investment. This Subcommittee certainly supports exploring fundamental areas of science with uncertain or even unknowable outcomes, but the level of that support should always be well-justified. The Administration’s High Energy Physics Advisory Panel made important progress in this direction with the release of its 10-year strategic plan, which set research and project priorities under a series of realistic budget scenarios. I look forward to learning more about whether and how this plan is being implemented.
With that I’d like to thank this excellent panel of witnesses for appearing before the Subcommittee this morning, and I yield to our distinguished Ranking Member, Mr. Inglis.
Witnesses
Panel
0 - Dr. Hugh Montgomery
Director Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
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0 - Dr. Lisa Randall
Professor of Physics Harvard University Harvard University
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0 - Dr. Piermaria Oddone
Director Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
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0 - Dr. Dennis Kovar
Director Office of High Energy Physics U.S. Department of Energy Office of High Energy Physics U.S. Department of Energy
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