Issues

How can we set priorities in physics research and at the same time achieve a balanced approach?

With 30‐erg protons colliding with 30‐erg protons, the Super Collider will help resolve some of the open scientific questions concerning the nature of elementary particles.

Proposed machines such as a multi‐GeV electron accelerator and an ultrarelativistic heavy‐ion collider promise to open new frontiers for the study of nuclei as unique many‐body systems.

Research can continue the 20‐year trend toward greater plasma confinement times, densities and temperatures, leading to the full set of ignition parameters by the mid‐1990s.

Because they provide beams for many experiments simultaneously, intense neutron sources and synchrotron radiation sources are becoming exciting multidisciplinary research centers.

Small‐scale research plays a vital role in advancing physics, in training physicists and in generating new technologies, but we will need a new perspective to judge its needs alongside those for large facilities.