South Korea's Charge Into Basic Research Meets Resistance

摘要

As a leader of South Korea's premier dark matter experiment, Kim Sun Kee enjoyed the hunt for an elusive quarry. So 2 years ago, when the nascent Institute for Basic Science (IBS) was looking for a director to oversee the design and construction of a heavy-ion accelerator, the physicist hesitated to apply. But the idea of bringing South Korea's biggest-ever basic research facility into being was irresistible. When Kim's team fires up the RAON Rare Isotope Accelerator around 2020 in this science city south of Seoul, the $1 billion machine will probe how heavy elements are created in supernovas, join the race to discover stable superheavy nuclei-and symbolize Korea's new push into basic research.