Has Physics Spent Itself Into a Corner?

By RICHARD MONASTERSKY

The experiment about to begin at CERN may be the last hurrah for big physics, at least for a generation. Given budget pressures in many countries and a host of global challenges like climate change and food shortages, governments may be unwilling to invest the money it will take to build a next-generation particle collider, say some physicists.

"I don't see how society is going to fund it at the kinds of costs it requires," says Gordon Kane, a professor of physics at the University of