Why, then should we as a society choose to support basic frontier research like high-energy physics?
First, because we expect that from this research we will come closer to answering the fundamental questions that have intrigued humanity for all our history: Where do we come from, what are we made of, why is our world the way it is? Second, because we can be confident that, although we have little idea at present which advances from basic research will in time come back to transform our society, we have every historical reason to expect that the benefits will justify our investment manyfold. Finally, participation in basic research will benefit all of society by educating and training thousands of students who will choose to enter the workforce not only in academic research but as workers in many diverse industries. Currently, there are hundreds of graduate students from universities around the world who will receive their Ph.D. degrees from their work at U.S. national physics laboratories. Experience suggests that only about one in five will stay in basic research. These young men an
