{"id":43955,"date":"2024-02-20T08:39:42","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T08:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=43955"},"modified":"2025-01-15T14:32:49","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T14:32:49","slug":"two-flagship-research-facilities-set-to-accelerate-canadian-leadership-in-global-big-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/two-flagship-research-facilities-set-to-accelerate-canadian-leadership-in-global-big-science\/43955\/","title":{"rendered":"Two flagship research facilities set to accelerate Canadian leadership in global Big Science"},"content":{"rendered":"
The 20th century had some of humankind\u2019s most significant scientific achievements. From the mass-produced automobile to the space race and beyond, we continually sought ever-higher mountains to climb.<\/p>\n
In an article published in Science<\/em> in 1961, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Alvin M Weinberg wrote: \u201cWhen history looks at the 20th century, she will see science and technology as its theme; she will find in the monuments of Big Science \u2013 the huge rockets, the high-energy accelerators, the high-flux research reactors \u2013 symbols of our time just as surely as she finds in Notre Dame a symbol of the Middle Ages.\u201d<\/p>\n Weinberg\u2019s assertion about these \u2018monuments\u2019 was, of course, prescient \u2013 60 years later (and well into the 21st century), many of our greatest and most definitive scientific monuments have emerged from experimental physics, nuclear power generation, and space travel. But perhaps more prescient was the coining of \u2018Big Science\u2019 as the singular term to describe what has become the world\u2019s largest, most complex, and most collaborative scientific endeavours. Today, Big Science speaks to the magnitude of the apparatus required to drive discovery and innovation; to do excellent science<\/a>, we need big communities, big laboratories, big machines, and big budgets.<\/p>\n Such a simple phrase belies the inherent complexity and unity that large-scale research requires, which is the very nature of how we now do science. No longer does the march of progress rely so manifestly on single-point geniuses \u2013 the Einsteins, Newtons, or Curies \u2013 making ground-breaking discoveries in isolation or within the confines of the ivory tower. Today, international research teams work across borders to tackle scientific inquiries at a scale and scope that would have been unimaginable to our science forebears. Much of the large-scale science performed today requires thousands-strong teams of top talent in the traditional areas of physics, chemistry, and biology and the requisite research and development support areas like engineering, technological support, and administration.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, this co-ordinated and collaborative approach has allowed us to perform better science and expand our understanding of our universe and ourselves in unprecedented ways. Among other achievements, Big Science has brought us the discovery of the Higgs boson, the elusive and long-theorised particle that confers mass to matter; the ability to map the entire human genome for the first time; and, through co-ordinated, multi-messenger arrays of telescopes, increasingly profound glimpses into the darkest abysses of the Universe, deeper than was ever thought possible.<\/p>\n Despite a historically natural resource-focused economy and a relatively small population, Canada has developed a strong reputation as a global leader in some of the world\u2019s most important large-scale Big Science endeavours. This is in part due to its intentional positioning as an accessible, globally engaged convener and peacemaker, coupled with concerted post-war science funding that seeded a program of national infrastructure development and support for academic institutions. Canada has produced a variety of Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry, and medicine, and retains a high rank in scientific research quality among international scientists. The nation\u2019s science output is supported by a strong base of colleges and universities, many of which consistently rank among the best in the world. Canada\u2019s science leadership is also evident in its major research facilities, which include the deep underground mine SNOLAB, the Canadian Light Source, and the Vancouver-based TRIUMF<\/a>, Canada\u2019s particle accelerator centre.<\/p>\n TRIUMF is one of a handful of subatomic research facilities in the world capable of producing extremely intense beams of rare isotopes; due to both its facilities and the community of particle accelerator experts it convenes today, the Vancouver-based laboratory has become an international hub for scientists and students working in fields like nuclear astrophysics (which sees researchers using rare isotope beams to study the origin and processes of element formation in stellar events) to life sciences (and the production of critical medical isotopes for diagnosing and treating disease) to materials sciences (where beams are useful for characterising materials like superconductors, or designing and testing next-generation batteries) and beyond.<\/p>\nCanada\u2019s Big Science ambitions<\/h3>\n
\u00a9TRIUMF<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n