4 ms·
Good thing he did. As for the Higgs discovery, the nature of the experimental facilities and the generations of physicists who designed them would have made it
by lokimedes 9y ago
Good thing he did. As for the Higgs discovery, the nature of the experimental facilities and the generations of physicists who designed them would have made it very difficult to point to singular recipients. Since the prize is never given to collaborations, the best alternative whould have been the spokespersons for ATLAS and CMS and perhaps the LHC/CERN director. But still that would have been misrepresenting the efforts of thousands.
I think the Nobel Committee should fix this by allowing the prize to be awarded to collaborations.
(An accepting, but slightly disgruntled co-discoverer of a new particle)
- linkmotif 9y agoYou discovered a particle?
- KGIII 9y agoI think there is also room for more prestigious awards to be named and given out. Perhaps one could function exclusively to shine a light on collaborative efforts? I also think there's a little that some of us can do in this same/similar space. Maybe not at this scale, but quite a few of us have sold their company and made a few dollars. It's not terribly expensive to start a small managed trust and provide things like scholarships in perpetuity. It's not the prestige of a Nobel, but it's a little something that can go a long ways.
- davrosthedalek 9y agoIn that sense, we should also think about crowd-founded science. For example, travel costs are always a problem. There are also many table-top experiments which could be realized just with a small cash infusion. Most contributions to universities do not actually benefit an experiment in a direct way.
- KGIII 9y agoThe closest I've come to that was helping somebody attend a conference. That's a good idea, I think.
- specialist 9y agoI'm very interested novel funding strategies. A friend of mine is directly funding early stage research related to Lyme Disease. Like an angel investor? Helping to bridge the gap between an idea and applying for grants.
- davrosthedalek 9y agoPlease thank you friend for me. Edit: Altruistic angel investor, I would call it. There is no pay-out coming, except maybe for acknowledgment in a paper and pride to have helped.
- ISL 9y agoCheck out the Breakthrough Prize.
- KGIII 9y agoNeat. It's still fairly new. It doesn't appear to prohibit collaborations, though it doesn't seem to emphasize them. I only skimmed their site and Wikipedia. There's probably room for lots of prizes, without diluting the importance of the Nobel.
- ISL 9y agoThere's room for plenty of prizes, as well as private underwriting of quality research.