With the (physics) world breathlessly awaiting the announcement of the possible discovery of the Higgs Boson, the so called God-particle, it’s a good time to put the scope and impact of this discovery into context.
If we are on the Verge of a the scientific discovery of our time then allow me to play the cynic. Â Never has so much money been spent to find something so small, or has it? Â Â That said the most transformative scientific efforts of our time have always had enormous costs:
The Apollo Program (in 2005 Dollars) – $170 billion
The Manhattan Project (in 2005 Dollars) – $24.4 Billion
The Large Hadron Collider ~ $9 Billion
The Human Genome Project ~ $3.3 Billion
It remains to be seen what ultimate effect this discovery of the Higgs Boson will have on history, scientific progress or society at large, but in terms of cost it is in some good company.  All of the remaining projects above have proved transformative and I suspect the Higgs discovery, and the off shoot of research that will follow, will rank right up there.  This is a triumph of man’s reason over curiosity.  Exponential change is upon us and lets hope that history, scientific progress and society benefit.