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gdg

This was written today by a pal of mine who’s a physicist here in Minnesota. Thought I’d help spread the word - ya never know who might be reading this and can help out.

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Hello everyone. This announcement pertains to particle physics, none-the-less you may not stop reading now. The congressional funding bill for 2008 has reduced the budget to Fermilab so significantly, that the lab will have to layoff many employees and halt all R&D on upcoming projects. There is an article in the Chicago Tribune (and virtually no where else). This might not seem like a big deal in a world where terrorists have been attacking our imaginations, but if the bill passes as it is at the end of this week, the future of high-energy particle physics will effectively be killed in the United States. Large numbers of physicists will have to move to other countries to continue their work, and America will lose its position as the world leader of cutting edge particle physics. This will have a devastating impact on the University of Minnesota’s physics department as well. The NOVA project was scheduled to begin construction next year, and the U had been awarded $36M for construction and R&D. The NOVA project will be halted for the next year, and potentially killed for good if this bill passes.

If any of you knows somebody that can get in touch with Amy Klobuchar or Norm Coleman, please forward them the article above. This is extremely important, not just to me, but to the future of American scientific competetiveness.