Happer, William, 1939-
Oral history interview with William Happer, 1997 February 15.
This interview is part of a series conducted during research for the book Tunnel Visions, a history of the Superconducting Super Collider project. It primarily addresses Princeton University physicist William Happers time as the Director of the Office of Energy Research at the Department of Energy, a position he held from May 1991 to May 1993. This period covers the ramp up of construction on the project and the growth of congressional opposition to it, as well as the transition from the administration of President George H. W. Bush to that of President Bill Clinton. Happer addresses his own support for the project, other scientific efforts competing for priority, the political dynamics he perceived surrounding the SSC, and his views of the management structure for the SSC that DOE implemented prior to his arrival. He observes that the management and fate of the SSC were not especially unusual in the context of other expensive DOE projects and discusses at length the failure to secure international support for the SSC, particularly the difficulty in making the project a top-priority issue in diplomacy with Japan. Happer also offers his perception of the Clinton administrations lukewarm support for the project, the possibility it could have been politically saved, and the dangers it would have faced if it continued beyond 1993. He also reflects on whether large-scale projects such as the SSC are urgent to pursue, defends Roy Schwitterss performance as SSC Laboratory Director, and shares his views of the ferocity of the SSCs main opponents in Congress and of the role of Congresss General Accounting Office in building the case against it.
William Happer is the Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics, emeritus, at Princeton University. He served as the Director of the Office of Energy Research at the US Department of Energy from 1991 to 1993, and he was a longtime member of the JASON advisory group. Happer completed his graduate studies at Princeton University.
Bush, George, 1924-2018
Clinton, Bill, 1946-
Happer, William, 1939-
Schwitters, Roy F.
JASON Defense Advisory Group
Princeton University
United States. Department of Energy
Colliders (Nuclear physics).
Energy policy.
Particles (Nuclear physics)
Science and state
Superconducting Super Collider
Interviews. aat
Oral histories. aat
Transcripts. aat
Riordan, Michael, 1946- interviewer.
AIP-ICOS
American Institute of Physics. Niels Bohr Library & Archives. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA