NIST Colloquium Series: A Bridge Too Far? The Demise of the Superconducting Super Collider
Michael Riordan has taught the history of physics and technology at Stanford and the UC Santa Cruz. He is (co)author of several books including, most recently, Tunnel Visions: The Rise and Fall of the Superconducting Super Collider, the definitive history of the SSC. This huge, multibillion-dollar high-energy physics project was killed by Congress in October 1993 – five years after Congress had given the project a green light. The SSC's had ambitious physics goals but the project was ended after its estimated cost exceeded $10 billion, with no major foreign contributions. What went wrong? What were the consequences for big science?
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