I read the title and thought, "Duh, because the USA didn't invest nine and a half billion into the research".
Its interesting that the polarized political stances of today, which draw so much legitimacy from icons of the past. If you look at their policy positions... well just read the article and you'll see.
As Ian Sample recount’s in his recent book, Massive, a long history/explanation of the Higgs boson, the Desertron was to be “the largest pure science project ever.” And it’s approval was granted by President Reagan himself after a powerful presentation by Alvin Trivelpiece, the director of the U.S.’ Office of Energy Research.
The initial cost was to be $4.4 billion, which is about $7.5 billion in today’s dollars. For reference, the LHC was budgeted at $9 billion. And, meanwhile, the soon to be defunct Tevatron collider, the U.S.’ rival to the LHC, would have required about $35 million a year to continue to hunt for the Higgs. That requested extension was denied by the Department of Energy last month, leaving the U.S. with nothing to offer anymore in the hunt.
Recounted in Massive and in sci-fi writer John G. Cramer’s brief history of the Desertron here, Reagan wasn’t f*cking around either. His instructions to Trivelpiece and the Department of Energy in 1987 were to “throw deep,” a favorite Reagan football quote that basically translates to “win this thing even if it means taking a risk.”
The Desertron died two administrations later during the belt-tightening years of Clinton.
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