I have some friends who work on the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Lab in Long Island. They had told me that there was nothing to do because their funding had been cut by the Department of Energy.
Then, just over a week ago, comes a sudden announcement that $13 million had been generously donated to RHIC by a hedge fund!
I'm not exactly sure what to think. It's great that important science will be done, but I'm not altogether happy that basic science is heading towards the model of great patrons from centuries past. Particle and nuclear physicists are starting to seem like starving artists.
For more information on the RHIC donation, see an article from Newsday.
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