NATURE|Vol 459|14 May 2009 NEWS
EXPLAINING THALIDOMIDE’S LEGACY Drug’s effects on embryonic blood-vessel growth may be source of malformed limbs. www.nature.com/news
Austria quits CERN after 50 years MUS. AM. HIST. SHARRER, NAT. G. T.
Austria has announced that it will withdraw Weisskopf, have been Austrian-born, and the Among those are the European Biobanking from CERN, Europe’s premier high-energy country has 170 scientists working on the LHC and Biomolecular Research Resources Infra- physics laboratory, located near Geneva in and its two largest experiments, ATLAS and structure project, the European X-ray Free Switzerland. The announcement — just months the compact muon solenoid. Under the terms Electron Laser near Hamburg, Germany, and before the restart of the Large Hadron Collider of the withdrawal, Austria’s participation would the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in (LHC), the world’s most powerful particle accel- end in 2010. Darmstadt, Germany. erator — has left Austrian physicists stunned. “Nobody is happy about the decision. We Donig says the decision is about getting the “It is a black day for Austrian science,” says would have loved to stay in CERN,” says Nikola greatest return for the government’s money. Christian Fabjan, who heads the Institute for Donig, a spokesman for the Austrian ministry “We want to fund fields where we can have High Energy Physics at the Austrian Academy of science. But, he adds, “budg- more impact for businesses and of Sciences in Vienna. Fabjan says that he was ets are tight”. Austria’s budget, “Nobody is happy universities,” he says. “totally shocked” by the announcement, which completed this April, actually about the decision.” On 11 May, Rolf-Dieter was made on 8 May by Johannes Hahn, the sci- increases funding for science, Heuer, CERN’s director-gen- ence minister and a member of the conserva- he says. But private funding for basic research eral, held what he described as a “construc- tive Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP). has dropped off drastically since the start of the tive” meeting with Hahn. “I think we can still Only two other nations have withdrawn economic downturn. negotiate,” Heuer says. He hopes that officials from CERN in its 55-year history: Yugoslavia The government will use its contribution to from CERN and the Austrian government can pulled out of the lab in 1961, and Spain left in CERN — roughly €17 million (US$23 million) meet in the coming weeks to discuss ways to 1969, only to rejoin in 1983. per year, or 2% of the laboratory’s budget — to continue the nation’s participation. Austria joined CERN in 1959, one of the first make up some of that shortfall and to begin The decision still has to be approved by Aus- nations to do so. Two of the laboratory’s direc- participation in other international collabora- tria’s government, parliament and president. ■ tors, Willibald Jentschke and Victor Frederick tions in physics, sociology and biotechnology. Geoff Brumfiel
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