3 June 1993
The Honorable George Brown Chairman Committee on Science, Space, and Technology U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 USA
Dear Mr. Brown
I gather that the U.S. Congress will shortly have an important vote on the funding of the SSC. As I am not a U.S. citizen or taxpayer I have no right to say how Congress should spend money, but I hope I can convince you that it would be in the interests of the United States, as well as of the wider community to continue this project.
The economic success of the U.S. since the last war has in large part been due to its technological lead over the rest of the world. This has been based on its pre-eminence in basic science, particularly physics. To continue this outstanding record and to inspirt bright young people to enter the field it is necessary to have the prospect of continuing to make progress in the way physicists have so successfully done in the U.S. in the last 40 or 50 years. Without the SSC, fundamental physics in the U.S. is likely to stagnate in the future. This would be a great pity because it has done so much in recent years to move us closer towards the goal of a complete knowledge of the basic laws that govern the universe.
Of course the SSC is very expensive and there will always be those who will claim that it would be better to spend the money on social programs, or even other scientific projects. But there is nothing else that can so fundamentally advance our understanding of the universe. I very much hope that Congress will continue its support for the SSC. It would be a sad day for science and for the human spirit if it were to cancel it.
Yours sincerely,
Stephen Hawking