Ex-Google CEO Funds AI Research at Europe's Top Physics Hub CERN 11
A donation by former Google chief Eric Schmidt to Europe's top particle physics lab heralds a new way to fund frontier research just as the West's technological race with China quickens. From a report: The European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, will use the previously unreported gift of $48 million [non-paywalled link] from the Eric & Wendy Schmidt Fund for Strategic Innovation to develop AI algorithms to analyze raw data from the lab's Large Hadron Collider, the world's most powerful energy particle accelerator. In 2012, it discovered the Higgs Boson, a particle that's key to understanding how the universe is built.
Now, CERN needs to reinvest to stay at the cutting edge of particle physics research. By the late 2030s, the LHC is expected to reach the end of its useful life and CERN needs $17 billion from European nations to fund the construction of a much bigger accelerator, known as the Future Circular Collider. But that funding has yet to be secured and, in the meantime, China has proposed its own collider. raditionally, CERN has relied on contributions from its 23 member states and observer partners like the US for funding pure research, while private investors focus on applied research, according to Charlotte Warakaulle, CERN's director of international relations. That makes the Schmidts' donation to pure research a private-sector first and may herald a different approach to funding the next collider, she says. "We're looking at all sorts of potential partners," Warakaulle said in an interview with Bloomberg last week. "How we could partner with the EU, private investments potentially."
Now, CERN needs to reinvest to stay at the cutting edge of particle physics research. By the late 2030s, the LHC is expected to reach the end of its useful life and CERN needs $17 billion from European nations to fund the construction of a much bigger accelerator, known as the Future Circular Collider. But that funding has yet to be secured and, in the meantime, China has proposed its own collider. raditionally, CERN has relied on contributions from its 23 member states and observer partners like the US for funding pure research, while private investors focus on applied research, according to Charlotte Warakaulle, CERN's director of international relations. That makes the Schmidts' donation to pure research a private-sector first and may herald a different approach to funding the next collider, she says. "We're looking at all sorts of potential partners," Warakaulle said in an interview with Bloomberg last week. "How we could partner with the EU, private investments potentially."
If I had a 200 Billion dollars (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I'd pitch in for CERN. Throwing some to Fermi as well, and investigating if we can get the Texas super collider back up and in the running. I mean the tunnel is already there, just slap some superconductors and a few detectors and boom, we've got physics. Only downside is that its in Texas, which means luddites might try to storm the castle and any Woman would be insane to work in that state. Maybe thats the carrot to get them to be less insane? IDK, worth a couple million in investigating the situation.
I wish we spent as much on things like CERN as we do on finding new, better, faster, more efficient ways to kill each other. Usually these discussions break down the second money gets mentioned because so many people can't wrap their head around throwing money at something that isn't either immediately profitable, or tangentially profitable, like better weapons to kill people in places that have resources we want to pilfer.
No longer a point to the SSC (Score:2)
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There is no point in building the SSC now. It was designed to compete with the LHC and building it now would just repeat what the LHC has already found. Instead you need to go up in energy to probe new physics. The proposed FCC has a centre-of-mass-energy of 100TeV vs. 14TeV for the LHC.
We certainly spent a lot of money to confirm the Higgs. and not much else. We're well into diminishing returns here.
The rationale seems to be that "the next accelerator will answer the questions!" But it's the EU's money, they can spend it as they wish.
So what is the rationale for spending 17 billion for the next collider? What do they plan to find? I read it will be a Higgs generator that will find the missing 95 percent of the Universe. https://www.bbc.com/news/scien... [bbc.com]
I'd wager at least a cup of
CERN needs $17 billion (with a b) (Score:3)
Aren't we glad Eric Schmidt pitched in 48 million (with an m)? Truly a new way to finance frontier science.
Not for New Machines (Score:3)
Well Thank God for China! (Score:2)
China? (Score:2)
This has nothing to do with China. Are we in a race with China to discover the source of dark matter? As far as the West's race with China, this gift is counterproductive. It's only productive for CERN.