(Photo by Diana Rogers)

by Jonathan Dorfan

I recently spent a fascinating hour with Jeremy Webb, editor of New Scientist magazine. It was his first visit to SLAC and we discussed the present and future programs of our laboratory. His comments at the end of the interview made me reflect on the changing nature of research at SLAC and, indeed, in big science worldwide.

What struck Webb is the strong international theme and the large involvement of international scientists in our research programs. He had always considered SLAC to be an American laboratory providing research opportunities for the domestic physics community – what he found was a laboratory that is a leader in promoting and supporting international participation in large-scale science.

It is true that there has been a substantial transition in numbers and nationalities of SLAC researchers over the last 10 years. The number of researchers using our facilities – "users" as we affectionately call them – has increased from 900 in 1993 to over 3000 in 2001, with over 1300 coming from overseas. Scientists from more than 20 nations come to SLAC to carry out their research. BABAR is a truly international experiment and probably has the largest foreign participation of any high energy physics experiment in the U.S. In the same vein, the Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) has participating institutes from five nations.

This internationalization is not limited to the astro- and high energy physics programs, but also characterizes the way Synchrotron Radiation research has developed at SLAC. This year, 500 SSRL users came from overseas. With next year’s installation of the SPEAR3 upgrade to our light source, foreign participation will likely grow even larger. Another example of this trend is the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between DESY and SSRL for mutual support in the research and development for x-ray free electron lasers.

The advantages of international collaboration in fundamental research are clear. Pooling resources, and more importantly brainpower, is the most efficient and responsible way to succeed in big science projects. Realizing a linear collider project presents special challenges that require the international community to invent a new paradigm for worldwide science collaboration. This accelerator complex and its associated detectors will be a fully international facility from its inception, one without ownership by any one nation or region.

SLAC is playing a leading role in working with its partners in the U.S., Europe and Asia and with governments worldwide to develop this paradigm. As the only laboratory to have built and operated a linear collider, we also have a lot to offer in the finalization of the machine design. Coordination of this activity is the responsibility of the International Committee of Future Accelerators (ICFA), a group of experts from all regions of the world who meet several times each year. In October, I was honored to be named as the next chairman of ICFA, taking over this role from Hirotaka Sugawara (KEK) in January 2003.

SLAC is at the forefront of the international cooperation in discovery-oriented science, which particularly befits a school of Stanford University, whose students are drawn from all nations of the world and whose renown is established worldwide.