Roundtable: Science Under Stress

Lubkin: Because the sponsor of this discussion is PHYSICS TODAY, we would like to concentrate on physics. But you needn't limit yourselves to physics, since many of the issues obviously transcend our own field. Many physicists—and scientists in general—have been complaining, even before the country fell into economic recession, that funding for research is inadequate, that their subfield is hurting everywhere, at universities, national laboratories and industrial companies. With the issue of funding so pervasive, I'd like to start by asking whether budgets for physics research are considered adequate today and whether physicists are realistic about this, given the state of the economy and the demands on the government.