SECRETIVE decision-making was the “catastrophic error” behind the UK’s current physics funding crisis, according to the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS).
Last December, the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) announced plans to axe a number of astronomy projects, such as the UK’s involvement in the Gemini observatory. Though Gemini astronomers won a stay of execution last week, the RAS condemned the secrecy that preceded the cuts: “The STFC has failed miserably to communicate with the community,” it said.
The RAS statement came on the same day as a proposal by the UK government, the STFC and other partners…
