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While an undergraduate student majoring in geology I had to take several physics courses.
One Sunday morning (June 17th, 1984) there appeared a syndicated
article in the Buffalo newspaper by Gary
Blonston, about a proposal to construct a massive particle physics collider.
Until the Republic Steel plant closed in 1981, I had been a steelworker for eleven years,
catching red hot steel bars with a large pair of tongs as we worked the steel through the rolling passes.
With the demise of the steel industry, a university degree was my next move.
Thousands of steelworkers in Buffalo and Lackawana were permanently unemployed.
Buffalo needed new, clean, high-tech jobs. (The former Republic Steel site is now Elon Musk's solar panel manufacturing plant.)
Motivated to improve our community, I approached my physics professor
- he scoffed at the idea of the Superconducting Super Collider being located near Buffalo.
I spoke with the head of the the University of Buffalo research office who also said it was too big a project for Buffalo.
Undaunted, I then drafted a
letter and distributed it to the
political and
business and
university officials who would be the
movers and shakers to make the idea a reality. I also sent a copy to the Canadian
Dept. of Energy, Research and Technology Center, in Ottowa.
The PROPOSAL to locate the SSC near Buffalo became a
reality.
Buffalo almost won the bid. All the States in the Northeast endorsed the New York bid.
Washington decided to award the bid to Texas because Vice-president Bush was from Texas,
and Jim Wright, the Speaker of the House of Representatives was from Texas.
In a wacky way, one of my predictions proved to be true.
In 1984 I said to a friend from Texas that her State would not be a suitable site for the SSC
because of the fire ants there.
(I had heard about the fire ant problem from a geology professor who had the misfortune
to meet up with the critters while doing field work in Texas.)
After a brief start, with the budget deficit soaring, the project was canceled as too expensive.
Pictures of the SSC tunneling project.
Somewant to try for another SSC.
Some think the money would be a wise investment.
The U.S. Secretary of Energy agrees that we need an international approach.
