Introduction: History and Politics of Big Science in Europe

Abstract

This chapter introduces the concept of Big Science from several perspectives. These range from rather traditional understandings of Big Science as a representation of large particle physics projects in the Cold War to emerging approaches such as “Big Science Transformed” or “New Big Science” that also consider Research Infrastructures and the increasing role of synchrotron radiation sources, free-electron lasers and neutron sources. Moreover, this chapter contextualises the history of Big Science in Europe with regard to both scientific and political dimensions including, for instance, the history of research with synchrotron radiation, ions and neutrons, as well as particle physics research, but also political aspects such as the role of the French-German partnership or the emerging role of Russia.