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<b>Physics in America at Crossroads and in Crisis, Panel Says</b><br /><br />By DENNIS OVERBYE<br />Published: April 27, 2006<br /><br /><i>Physics in America is at a crossroads and in crisis, just as humanity stands on the verge of great discoveries about the nature of matter and the universe, a panel from the National Academy of Sciences said yesterday.<br /><br />The United States should be prepared to spend up to half a billion dollars in the next five years to ensure that a giant particle accelerator now being designed by a worldwide consortium of scientists can be built on American soil, the panel said. If that does not happen, particle physics, the quest for the fundamental forces and constituents of nature, will wither in this country, it said.<br /><br />"That is a risky investment," Harold T. Shapiro, an economist at Princeton and chairman of the 22-member commission, said yesterday at a news conference in Washington.<br /><br />But, Mr. Shapiro added: "It's least risky path we could find. To stay where we are is equivalent to folding our cards."</i><br /><br />Full Story <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis: </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>