Amid protests, Austria scraps plan to quit CERN
Earth Times, Mon, 18 May 2009 14:29:45 GMT
Vienna - Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said Monday the country would not quit the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) after all, in remarks coming after protests by scientists and politicians in the past days. Science Minister Johannes Hahn had announced the plan to end Austria's membership in CERN on May 7 in order to free funds for other multinational research projects.
His ministry also questioned the output by Austrian scientists involved in CERN'S large-scale particle experiments in Switzerland.
"We know that research needs reliability and a long-term perspective," Faymann said Monday. Austria's reputation was of a higher priority than the country's self-interest, he said in a statement issued after a meeting with Hahn.
Although nuclear research goes largely unnoticed by the Austrian public, which is traditionally very sceptical of nuclear science, researchers in the field collected over 21,600 signatures in Austria against the Science Ministry's plan.
Some 170 of the country's scientists and engineers are involved with CERN. Austria is one of CERN's 20 member countries and spends around 16 million euros (21 million dollars) annually on the organization.
"We won't let particle physics die," Peter Skalicky, president of Vienna's University of Technology, vowed Monday before Faymann's announcement.
Scientists and politicians had questioned Hahn's proposal at a time when CERN was getting ready to start up its particle accelerator on the Swiss-French border, the largest such installation in the world.
The centre is conducting experiments to recreate conditions just after the Big Bang, which most scientists accept as the origin of the universe.
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