The world's best known scientist, Prof Stephen Hawking, has added his name to a petition signed by thousands of physicists who are outraged by Government cuts. The recently established Science and Technology Facilities Council, STFC has abandoned involvement in an international atom smasher and a telescope amid a range of budget slashing that has triggered vitriolic attacks on the Government by the scientific establishment of an intensity not seen since cuts were made under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. The Council, which funds public research in particle physics and astronomy, has to save £80 million over the next three years because of lack of Government funding.
A team of astronomers has been given a multi-million pound grant to "answer the riddles of the cosmos". The scientists from Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) have been given the £2.5m by the Science and Technology Facilities Council. The scientists, based in LJMU's Astrophysics Research Institute (ARI), are ranked in the top 1% in the world for their space science research. They will be researching the origins and evolution of the universe. Professor Chris Collins, Director of the ARI and project leader, said the grant will enable them to expand their research to answer "fundamental questions".