OK, the SSC being on here displays ignorance of the smallest details of particle physics. The point of the SSC was to try and reach the energy levels required to reproduce the highest-energy fundamental particles, IIRC. Namely the Higgs Boson, and possibly the upper-energy quarks. Also, the difference between the SSC's 20 TeV (that's tera-electron-volts) and the more typical accelerators 10-20 GeV (giga-electron-volts) or a high-energy accelerator's 100-200 GeV (the RHIC according to wikipedia may have achieved 400 GeV... once... briefly).
The thing is that if we hadn't bailed on the SSC, it would be *done* *now*, and the testability of the Higgs Boson wouldn't be still waiting on CERN's 14 TeV collider, the LHC. When the LHC is finished, a lot of high-energy physics will probably move to Switzerland. And don't spout the crap about 'it's only about national pride'; basic science eventually pays off, usually in spades, and the US has been resting comfortably on a fast-eroding store of advances in same because it's expensive and doesn't show up on the bottom line.
This being said, maybe the tunnels that they dug would be a good place to live...
The thing is that if we hadn't bailed on the SSC, it would be *done* *now*, and the testability of the Higgs Boson wouldn't be still waiting on CERN's 14 TeV collider, the LHC. When the LHC is finished, a lot of high-energy physics will probably move to Switzerland. And don't spout the crap about 'it's only about national pride'; basic science eventually pays off, usually in spades, and the US has been resting comfortably on a fast-eroding store of advances in same because it's expensive and doesn't show up on the bottom line.
This being said, maybe the tunnels that they dug would be a good place to live...