The final detector was to be a cylinder aboutfive stories long and eight meters in diameterwith "as much metal as a battleship," says John E.Huth, professor of physics.

Melissa Franklin, associate professor of thenatural sciences, says she was working on adifferent project--to construct a detector made ofsynthetic polycrystalline diamond. The diamonddetector would have withstood the massive doses ofradiation in the interior of the collider, shesays.

A Question of Politics

Harvard physicists have many theories as to whythe project failed to get passed by Congress.

Many professors attribute the project'scancellation to Congressional determination to cutthe budget and reduce the large federal deficit.According to Congressional Quarterly, manyfirst-year representatives campaigned on promisesto cut spending and thought the SSC was theperfect project to cut.

"It was cancelled because Congress was in abudget-cutting mood, and they wanted big-ticketitems to tell voters at home that they wereserious about deficit reduction," Brandenburgsays.

"There's been a loss of confidence in theability of our government to fund long rangeprojects," says Feldman. Typically such projectsare planned for ten years, during which theeconomy is bound to slow down, he says. Thegovernment must be able to support long-termprojects despite pressures to cut spending, hesays.

The project's spiralling costs also hinderedits passage in Congress.

Feldman says that the supercollider initiallyhad a price tag of $3 billion. Shortlythere-after, he says, the cost rose to $5 billion.After the site was chosen and a more completeengineering study was done, the cost shot up to$8.25 billion.

The Clinton administration then suggestedstretching the project an extra three years, saysFeldman. This would have reduced the yearly costbut added $3 billion to the total cost of theproject.

The final price tag? $11 to $12 billion, athree-to-four fold increase from the initialestimate.

"There was a feeling in Congressmen's mindsthat the project was not well-controlled. Itsounded like the costs were running planning. Thecosts should have been estimated accurately rightfrom the start."

Washington's Anti-Science Mood

Harvard physicists say legislators' ignoranceof scientific issues contributed to ananti-science mood in Washington which favoredcancellation of the project.

"The extent to which there's an antisciencemood in the Congress these days mirrors thelamentable level of science illiteracy throughoutthe country," says Brandenburg.