The reinvention of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 1992–2012
(2018) In History and Technology 33(3). p.300-332- Abstract
This article examines the most recent history of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, with particular emphasis on how this laboratory shifted its research program from accelerator-based particle physics towards astroparticle physics, cosmology and multi-disciplinary photon science. Photon science became the central experimental research program through a series of changes in the organisational, scientific, and infrastructural set-up and in its science policy context. The article shows that SLAC’s reinvention unfolded in a science policy context in which funding priorities drifted towards the materials sciences and the life sciences at the expense of nuclear and particle physics, which had dominated science budgets during the Cold... (More)
This article examines the most recent history of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, with particular emphasis on how this laboratory shifted its research program from accelerator-based particle physics towards astroparticle physics, cosmology and multi-disciplinary photon science. Photon science became the central experimental research program through a series of changes in the organisational, scientific, and infrastructural set-up and in its science policy context. The article shows that SLAC’s reinvention unfolded in a science policy context in which funding priorities drifted towards the materials sciences and the life sciences at the expense of nuclear and particle physics, which had dominated science budgets during the Cold War. SLAC took a lead position in this global development by partly dismantling and also redeploying scientific and technical capabilities from its particle physics program for these new fields, thus, providing novel experimental facilities for user communities to expand across academia and industry.
(Less)
- author
- Heinze, Thomas and Hallonsten, Olof LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2018
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- big science, organisation, particle physics, photon science, SLAC, transformation, United States
- in
- History and Technology
- volume
- 33
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 33 pages
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85045451677
- ISSN
- 0734-1512
- DOI
- 10.1080/07341512.2018.1449711
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- b16f4094-20f8-40c4-b4aa-fab8ab121b24
- date added to LUP
- 2018-04-26 15:53:32
- date last changed
- 2022-06-30 11:52:30
@article{b16f4094-20f8-40c4-b4aa-fab8ab121b24,
abstract = {{<p>This article examines the most recent history of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, with particular emphasis on how this laboratory shifted its research program from accelerator-based particle physics towards astroparticle physics, cosmology and multi-disciplinary photon science. Photon science became the central experimental research program through a series of changes in the organisational, scientific, and infrastructural set-up and in its science policy context. The article shows that SLAC’s reinvention unfolded in a science policy context in which funding priorities drifted towards the materials sciences and the life sciences at the expense of nuclear and particle physics, which had dominated science budgets during the Cold War. SLAC took a lead position in this global development by partly dismantling and also redeploying scientific and technical capabilities from its particle physics program for these new fields, thus, providing novel experimental facilities for user communities to expand across academia and industry.</p>}},
author = {{Heinze, Thomas and Hallonsten, Olof}},
issn = {{0734-1512}},
keywords = {{big science; organisation; particle physics; photon science; SLAC; transformation; United States}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{300--332}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
series = {{History and Technology}},
title = {{The reinvention of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 1992–2012}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/43203742/The_reinvention_of_the_SLAC_National_Accelerator_Laboratory_1992_2012.pdf}},
doi = {{10.1080/07341512.2018.1449711}},
volume = {{33}},
year = {{2018}},
}