And the decline continues

[Protagoras]

Can we sell it to the Chinese? Askin' for a friend. .

That's unnecessary, they already have more advanced technology!

It could form yet another UK 'heritage' attraction.

We've got plenty of sites showing 'this is how we did industry, defence, transport etc' ... this could be another 'this is how we did science' one.

[jamesbrown]

I have now read similar stories across the Guardian and Torygraph, commenting on the closure of this and withdrawal of other funding for science research. Apparently the high cost of electricity, exchange rates for international collaboration (such as CERN), and other rising costs are to blame.

So it's not that there's something better but more that something has to go to balance the books. Absolutely gutting really.

In the end, it's the same calculation. There's a funding envelope and hence an amount that need to be saved. The potential savings are enumerated and evaluated as part of a prioritisation strategy and a project is not cut simply because costs are escalating, rather that the costs have become too high for the benefits accrued, relative to other investments. There are always critical priorities and it just depends how challenging the funding envelope might be as to whether some of those are endangered, but clearly e-MERLIN (Jodrell Bank) was not a sufficiently high priority. It doesn't mean it wasn't valuable, even very valuable. An important part of the decision making is the international research context and whether a given investment helps our profile internationally and doesn't duplicate work that other institutes are better positioned to undertake. The prioritisation process that underpins this decision (e-MERLIN) can be found here:

https://www.ukri.org/publications/ex...-2026-to-2030/

[DoctorStrangelove]

That's unnecessary, they already have more advanced technology!

It could form yet another UK 'heritage' attraction.

We've got plenty of sites showing 'this is how we did industry, defence, transport etc' ... this could be another 'this is how we did science' one.

"This is how we did radio astronomy with bits of redundant battleship and old radar sets from WWII".

I'm not sure anyone else used the same approach: it's Proper Engineering, is that, built like a brick tuliphouse except it's all in steel.

[ladymuck]

Thanks. I think it's just such an iconic site with amazing history, and has been maintained to remain current with evolving technology, that to face its closure feels like an own goal on the international science stage.

[jamesbrown]

Thanks. I think it's just such an iconic site with amazing history, and has been maintained to remain current with evolving technology, that to face its closure feels like an own goal on the international science stage.

Yes, it's all of those things and it is, indeed, quite sad.

[Protagoras]

"This is how we did radio astronomy with bits of redundant battleship and old radar sets from WWII".

As an aside, for anyone interesting in old radar tech, I'd recommend a visit to https://www.radarmuseum.co.uk notwithstanding that the location is a bit remote!

It's an example of 'this is how we did defence' when defence spending was considered important.

[tazdevil]

Also the York Cold War Bunker is an interesting visit