Particle physics is one of the most intriguing scientific
fields, probing the nature of the very makeup of the universe
itself. However, over the last half decade, due to the growing
economic crisis and various items such as war funding taking
precedence in government budgets, the budget to help the U.S.
stay leaders in the field of particle physics has been slipping.
The U.S. currently is down to only one remaining particle
physics lab, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
(Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois, associated with the University
of Chicago and the lab was looking to be on the way out. It had
started in February rolling furlough program that slashed
already scarce employee pay by 12.5 percent and forced them to
take periodic unpaid leave. Now an anonymous donor has stepped
in and donated $5M USD to the University of Chicago to try to
alleviate these cuts and keep the lab open. Even with the
extremely generous donation the lab is still in trouble. It
plans to lay off 140 employees now, though it wo