If there was a chance tha politically-connected spivs could set up some bogus company to hoover up reseach grants, we would've been part of it years ago!

I wouldn't care if we reaped no financial benefit from CERN membership. Can't we just want to be part of an extraordinary project that is revealing information about the origins of our universe?

Originally Posted by SayItAintSo

I wouldn't care if we reaped no financial benefit from CERN membership. Can't we just want to be part of an extraordinary project that is revealing information about the origins of our universe?

UCD are already involved and are collaborators. The question really being asked is what level of involvement is most beneficial.
UCD Trigger Tests for LHCbn
UCD VELO testing and analysis

Originally Posted by revolution

Which mod dude?

No idea.

Originally Posted by Munnkeyman

UCD are already involved and are collaborators. The question really being asked is what level of involvement is most beneficial.
UCD Trigger Tests for LHCbn
UCD VELO testing and analysis

I know UCD are involved. Some might feel the question is 'what level of involvement is most beneficial', I don't. I think we should want to participate in efforts to expand our understanding of the universe we exist in. Of course benefits will come down the line but seeking the knowlege for itself is a worthy undertaking, it can't (or shouldn't)always be about money.

Originally Posted by SayItAintSo

I know UCD are involved. Some might feel the question is 'what level of involvement is most beneficial', I don't. I think we should want to participate in efforts to expand our understanding of the universe we exist in. Of course benefits will come down the line but seeking the knowlege for itself is a worthy undertaking, it can't (or shouldn't)always be about money.

That doesn't answer my question though. What level of involvement at CERN would you feel is necessary for you to feel that we are participating "in efforts to expand our understanding of the universe we exist in"?
Irish Universities already attempt to do this in many different research areas, so I am asking why would Particle Physics be of more benefit to this quest than say Astronomy or Cosmology?

Originally Posted by SayItAintSo

it can't (or shouldn't)always be about money.

To the Paddy peasant mindset it is always about where the angle is to skim a few greasy shekels off the top.

If there's no obvious scam for the cronies to trouser some dosh on the side, then it simply won't happen in Ireland.

Spent a few months there, CERN is a waste of money, believe me. One news cycle in a decade or two does not change that.

Originally Posted by Munnkeyman

And, anyway, it probably would have been this guy who came back again - John Titor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

See also
International Association of Time Travelers: Members' Forum Subforum - boards.ie

;-)

Originally Posted by Edo

just watched a piece on the news on about Irelands continued long distance relationship with CERN

Ireland could join CERN for €1m says director general Rolf-Dieter Heuer - RT News

what is stopping us going for full membership? - at a cost of 20-30 million a year - thats peanuts in the grand scheme of things - Forfas has a budget of 2.5 billion a year approx - can they not find even 1 million for this gig as associate members?

Admittedly Ireland has probably one of the lowest levels of funding in the EU when it comes to state backed R&D

http://www.forfas.ie/media/FF1106201...ublication.pdf


Is the fact that the word "nuclear" is in the title? - and that is one sacred cow we daren't cross?

afraid of black holes? - well with the financial black holes we've created in the last 4 years - that should really be the last of our worries.

for a country whose future is going to be built for the most part on high level value added science based manufacturing and technology - I find it more than a little disturbing that we are not involved here at the core.

I've two cousins who are both involved in CERN at their respective universities - Wolfsburg and Aachen - both of them should be here doing the same thing in Ireland.

I just dont buy the " its too expensive for us" - if the Greeks, Spanish and Portugese , let alone the bulgarians and the Slovaks can afford full membership - more short-term penny-wise, pound-foolish nonsense or are Forfas afraid that we might look too closely at their budget and find that the vast amount of it is spent on bureaucrats who wouldn't know a petri-dish from a pizza dish................

Ireland's Non-participation in CERN as a Member State - Fun-Engineering Notes and Thoughts

Ireland and CERN | Antimatter

True Economics: 13/7/2012: CERN and Other 'Alternatives'

Forfas has a Budget of €2.5 BILLION????????

For giving out advice?