7.1: Discovery-Class Tools
Provide the discovery-class tools required by the U.S. scientific community to answer the most challenging research questions
of our era.
Other Information:
Scientific advancements cannot be made without similar advances in the tools used to make discoveries. Just as the telescope
enabled Galileo to see the stars and planets in an entirely new way, new tools being developed by the Office of Science will
enable researchers to view our physical world at its extremes—from the tiniest bits of matter to the limits of the cosmos.
We call these tools “discovery-class” because they are the best of their kind—they attract the greatest scientific minds in
the world and enable the type of discoveries that truly change the face of science. For more than half a century, the Office
of Science has envisioned, designed, constructed, and operated many of the premier scientific research facilities in the world.
Today, more than 18,000 researchers and their students from universities, other government agencies, private industry, and
abroad use these facilities each year—and this number is growing. For example, the light sources built and operated by the
Office of Science now serve more than three times the total number of users they served in 1990. An indication of the ability
of these research tools to build bridges between disciplines and open new vistas for research is seen in the dramatic increase—more
than 20-fold in the last decade—of life science users at the light sources, once the sole domain of materials and physical
science researchers. Our strategy includes the following emphases: • Work with the Office of Science programs’ advisory committees
and the broader scientific community to implement the recommendations of the companion document, Facilities for the Future
of Science: A Twenty-Year Outlook, and continue to identify and champion those critical facilities that will ensure the U.S.
position at the forefront of scientific discovery. • Build and operate the next generation of large-scale, discovery-class
national research facilities to support the vitality and excellence of U.S. science, which will attract and retain top students
and lead to new discoveries. • Develop partnerships with other Federal agencies, universities, and the U.S. scientific community
to fully exploit the extraordinary capabilities and interdisciplinary nature of our user facilities. • Fully integrate scientific
computation and other information technology tools into the fabric of scientific discovery. Our Timeline for Future Facilities:
In the Fall of 2002, the DOE’s Office of Science began a major effort to evaluate facility needs and priorities. The process
and results are contained in the companion document, the Twenty-Year Outlook. Choosing major facilities is one of the most
important activities of the DOE’s Office of Science. It requires prioritization across fields of science, a difficult and
unusual process. The set of facilities must be phased to conform to scientific opportunities, and to a responsible funding
strategy. The largest facilities will often be international in character, requiring both planning and funding from other
countries and organizations, together with the U.S. The 28 proposed facilities are listed by priority in the chart on page
93. Some are noted individually; however, others for which the advice of our advisory committees was insufficient to discriminate
among relative priority are presented in “bands.” In addition, the facilities are roughly grouped into near-term priorities,
mid-term priorities, and far-term priorities (and color-coded red, blue, and green respectively) according to the anticipated
research and development timeframe of the scientific opportunities they would address. Each facility listing is accompanied
by a “peak of cost profile,” which indicates the onset, years of peak construction expenditure, and completion of the facility.
Because many of the facilities are still in early stages of conceptualization, the timing of their construction and completion
is subject to the myriad considerations that come into play when moving forward with a new facility. Furthermore, it should
be remembered that construction of these cost profiles was guided by an ideal funding scenario. Appropriate caveats and explanation
are provided in the Twenty-Year Outlook. This facility plan represents the DOE Office of Science’s best guess today at how
the future of science and the need for scientific facilities will unfold over the next two decades. We know, however, that
science changes. Discoveries, as yet unimagined, will alter the course of research and the facilities needed in the future.
Additionally, we recognize that the breadth and scope of the vision encompassed by these 28 facilities reflects an aggressive
and optimistic view of the future of the Office. Nevertheless, we believe that it is necessary to have and discuss such a
vision. Despite the uncertainties, it is important for organizations to have a clear understanding of their goals and a path
toward reaching those goals. The Twenty- Year Outlook, and more broadly, this Office of Science Strategic Plan, offer just
such a vision.
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