Editorial: Widening our 2020 Horizons
Dear Readers,
The European Physical Society [EPS] has been duly responding to various questionnaires from Brussels, to provide significant input to the European Union’s scientific policies, namely in: ‘Areas of untapped potential for the development of the European Research Area’ and ‘Towards a Common Strategic Framework for EU Research and Innovation Funding’.
In particular, the EPS has been repeatedly stressing the importance of investment in basic scientific research – and here we are, indeed, having just received the most desired experimental result in fundamental particle physics from CERN‘s Large Hadron Collider.
On 4 July, the two giant experiments – ATLAS and CMS – both announced the observation of a new particle in the mass region around 125-126 GeV/c2: the heaviest boson ever found. This is very likely the Brout-Englert-Higgs-Guralnik-Hagen-Kibble boson, currently called “the Higgs”.
This result follows last year’s hints – as previously reported in e-EPS – and represents a fabulous achievement which paves the way to a new realm of discoveries. The EPS warmly congratulates CERN’s management and teams for this wonderful and extraordinary result. An interview with one of the main players – Guido Tonelli, the previous spokesperson of CMS – can be found in this month’s issue of e-EPS.
Physics is not only particle physics, however, and science is not merely physics. The European Union’s ‘Horizon 2020′ framework programme for research and innovation already contains some very interesting policy priorities across a large variety of fields.
The question is, then: is this programme exhaustive and satisfactory in its present shape?
During last month’s Executive Committee meeting, the EPS decided to launch a large internal enquiry, directly consulting its Divisions and Groups, to address precisely this question. This investigation – which will be coordinated by Executive Committee member and Plasma Physics Division Board chair, Carlos Hidalgo – will form the core of a forthcoming ‘EPS Statement on Horizon 2020′.
In the meantime, let’s enjoy this exciting new result from CERN and – why not – express the wish that it will help boost physics research (and related funding) the world over.
Luisa Cifarelli
President, European Physical Society
