With one exception, an assessment of large research facilities was met this past summer with the respect that Germany’s highly regarded Wissenschaftsrat, or national science council, is accustomed to. Not so with the European Spallation Source. In that case, the ensuing quarrel between the science council and many of the experts it had appointed to review the ESS made headlines in German newspapers. The experts have not retracted their claims that the ESS review process was flawed, but now the project’s planners are focusing on bolstering their scientific case in the hopes of winning the science council’s endorsement on appeal.
Unable to fund all the emerging major research facilities, Germany’s research ministry asked for an assessment by the science council, a body of natural and social scientists, humanities scholars, and politicians that advises the state and federal governments on education and research matters. The resulting assessment encompassed nine proposed facilities...
