Public discussion on program welcome

That Yang has used the mass media, instead of a professional journal, to disseminate his idea is welcome because the issue should be discussed not only by physicists, but also taxpayers, because taxpayers' money will fund the supercollider program.

Also, this will allow scientists to share their views with the public, which rarely happens. Physicists believe supercolliders are necessary for the advancement of physics but to build one, a country must have enough money, thoroughly discuss the issue, and cooperate with other countries in technology. China meets all these requirements.

There are fears that the supercollider program might take away a huge percentage of China's budget for basic research. But the cost of 3 billion yuan ($449 million) a year from 2022 to 2032 is not very high considering the total research budget. Besides, a supercollider will help China catch up with the advanced world in science.

More importantly, particle physics advances on the basis of repeated experiments. Only when China has a supercollider to conduct experiments will its scientists be able to improve their research.

Taxpayers should realize that the investment in a supercollider will yield promising returns because it will help upgrade technologies as a whole.

Chen Xin, associate professor of physics at Tsinghua University

(China Daily 09/10/2016 page5)