RESEARCH STARTER

Big Science

Big Science refers to extensive scientific projects characterized by large-scale collaboration, significant funding, and sophisticated technology. Emerging in the 1930s, the concept gained prominence during World War II with the Manhattan Project, which was aimed at developing the atomic bomb and involved over 120,000 personnel and approximately $2 billion in costs. Following the war, Big Science became a model for subsequent research initiatives, supported by national governments eager to invest in ambitious scientific endeavors. Notable examples include the Apollo space program, which successfully landed humans on the moon in 1969 at an estimated cost of $23 billion, and the Human Genome Project, completed in 2003, which mapped human DNA for about $2.7 billion. Other significant projects include the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), which detected gravitational waves in 2015, and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a massive particle accelerator exploring fundamental particles at a cost of around $10 billion. The growing reliance on Big Science reflects not only advancements in scientific knowledge but also the collaborative and competitive nature of global scientific efforts, particularly during the Cold War era.

Full Article

Big Science refers to scientific projects that are conducted on a large scale and at great expense. These projects require teams of researchers, sophisticated equipment, and large amounts of funding, usually from a national government. The concept of Big Science emerged in practice before being formally defined later and was first utilized during World War II in the Manhattan Project, the development of the first atomic bomb. After the war, the Manhattan Project became the template for future Big Science research, as national governments increasingly began allocating funds toward scientific projects. Some of the most high-profile scientific accomplishments of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries were the result of Big Science, including the Apollo space program, the Human Genome Project, and Europe’s Large Hadron Collider.

Background

Prior to World War II, most scientific research was conducted on a relatively small scale by individual scientists who worked either alone or with a few assistants. Many of these scientists were on staff at universities and did research and experiments in school-funded laboratories or in private facilities. Isaac Newton, for example, developed his theories of motion and gravitation while at Cambridge University in England. Albert Einstein was working as a patent clerk in Switzerland when he came up with his special theory of relativity.

In a way, the origins of Big Science can be traced back to small-scale experiments conducted at a laboratory in Manchester, England. In 1911, physicist Ernest Rutherford discovered the nucleus of the atom by noticing how electrically charged radioactive particles bounced back after being directed at a piece of gold foil. This meant that a dense nucleus—a core of protons—was at the center of the atom and was surrounded by a cloud of orbiting electrons. Rutherford made this discovery with a staff of two assistants and a grant of 75 pounds from the Royal Society of London.

Rutherford’s experiment only determined that atomic nuclei existed; the scientific limitations of the era did not allow physicists to penetrate the orbiting electrons to examine the atom’s center. In the 1930s, American scientist Ernest Lawrence invented a device called a cyclotron, a machine that uses magnetic and electrical fields to accelerate particles to the speeds required to break through to the atomic nucleus.

Lawrence’s first cyclotron was small and cost less than $100. As Lawrence improved the technology, the size and cost of the cyclotrons continued to increase. To house these inventions, he acquired his own building from the University of California in Berkeley and established the Radiation Laboratory. By 1939, Lawrence’s cyclotron had grown to 184 inches and required the construction of a building on a hillside overlooking the campus. At its height, the Radiation Laboratory employed more than sixty scientists and dozens of technicians.

That same year, the American government became aware that German scientists were working on a weapon that used the energy released by splitting atomic nuclei. In 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt allocated $6,000 to start research on the possibility of the United States developing its own atomic weapon. After the United States entered World War II in 1941, Roosevelt signed a secret order authorizing the creation of an atomic bomb. The effort was code-named the Manhattan Project after the New York City headquarters of the US Army Corps of Engineers.

After scientists successfully created the first controlled nuclear chain reaction at a facility in Chicago in 1942, the government began allocating even more resources to the project. In July 1945, the first successful test of an atomic bomb was conducted in the New Mexico desert. Less than a month later, two bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, helping bring about the end of the war and ushering in the nuclear age. More than 120,000 people at thirty research sites across the country were involved in working on the Manhattan Project. The total cost of the effort was estimated at about $2 billion.

Impact

The success of the Manhattan Project prompted more large-scale cooperation between government and science. In 1961, physicist Alvin Weinberg, director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, coined the term Big Science in an article in Science (magazine). Weinberg defended the practice, comparing it to the creation of the pyramids of Egypt or the medieval cathedrals of Europe.

The increasing reliance on Big Science was spurred on in part by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, as both sides engaged in a contest of political and scientific one-upmanship. The competition to dominate the fledgling space race led the United States to develop the Apollo program, a decade-long effort to send a manned spaceflight to the moon. On July 20, 1969, the program accomplished its goal when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. The cost of the mission was estimated to be about $23 billion and the project employed more than four hundred thousand people. Later space programs have continued this work, including efforts to return humans to the Moon and to support long-term exploration through international partnerships.

Another example of Big Science is the Human Genome Project. In 1988, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), in cooperation with several international groups, began funding an effort to sequence, or “map,” the molecules that make up human DNA. Because of the complexity of the DNA strands, the project was expected to take more than fifteen years to complete. Researchers at more than twenty laboratories around the world finished the project in 2003, two years ahead of schedule. The NIH estimated the total cost at $2.7 billion. The success of this project led to efforts to study human cells and to develop medical treatments based on genetic information.

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) was supported with funds from the US National Science Foundation (NSF). LIGO is an observatory spread out over two sites in the United States—one in Hanford, Washington, and the other in Livingston, Louisiana. LIGO is designed to detect gravitational waves, distant ripples in the fabric of space-time caused by massive objects in space. The NSF funded the project at a cost of about $1.1 billion through multiple phases. In 2015, LIGO detected the first evidence of gravitational waves, which were originally predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916. The observatory has gone on to make several other notable discoveries. LIGO works with other observatories, including Virgo in Europe and KAGRA in Japan, to improve the detection of gravitational waves and to study events in space more accurately.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a ringed particle accelerator about 16.7 miles long built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) three hundred feet below the ground on the border of France and Switzerland. The LHC, which operates on principles similar to Lawrence’s cyclotron, uses almost ten thousand magnets to accelerate particles close to the speed of light. Scientists study the collisions of these particles in an effort to understand the fundamental building blocks of matter. The project took almost twenty-five years to complete at a cost of about $10 billion. Scientists have planned upgrades to increase the number of particle collisions, allowing for a more detailed study of matter and energy.

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to computer systems that are able to perform complex tasks involving reasoning, decision-making, and problem-solving. Large-scale artificial intelligence research often requires powerful computer systems, large data sets, and major funding from governments and private organizations. These features make AI an example of Big Science.

In 2024, the US National Science Foundation announced its $20 million investment to fund twenty-five projects through the Collaborations in Artificial Intelligence and Geosciences (CAIG) program. The projects aim to advance both AI and the geosciences to improve natural resource management in response to climate change and to prepare for and mitigate natural hazards such as earthquakes. Other large projects use advanced computer models and global data to study Earth’s climate and environmental systems. Many Big Science projects often involve multiple countries working together, such as efforts to develop energy sources and to build large research facilities.


Bibliography

Abbott, B. P., et al. “Multi-Messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger.” The Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 848, no. 2, 16 Oct. 2017, doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa91c9. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

“Apollo’s Army.” Smithsonian Magazine, 17 June 2009, www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/apollos-army-31725477/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

“Artemis.” NASA, 16 Mar. 2026, www.nasa.gov/artemis/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

“Artificial Intelligence.” U.S. National Science Foundation, 2025, www.nsf.gov/focus-areas/ai. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

Chu, Jennifer. “A ‘Bang’ in LIGO and Virgo Detectors Signals Most Massive Gravitational-Wave Source Yet.” MIT News, 2 Sept. 2020, news.mit.edu/2020/ligo-virgo-gravitational-wave-0902. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

Hiltzik, Michael. Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention that Launched the Military-Industrial Complex. Simon & Schuster, 2015.

“The Human Genome Project Completion: Frequently Asked Questions.” National Human Genome Research Institute, 14 Apr. 2003, www.genome.gov/Pages/Education/Smithsonian_Exhibition/Human_Genome_Project_FAQ.pdf. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

“In a Few Lines.” ITER, www.iter.org/few-lines. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

“The Large Hadron Collider.” European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), home.cern/topics/large-hadron-collider. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

Lejtenyi, Patrick. “A Guide to Big Team Science Creates a Blueprint for Research Collaboration on a Large Scale.” ScienceDaily, 8 Sept. 2023, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/09/230908125953.htm. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Advancing the Science of Climate Change. National Academies Press, 2010.

“NSF Invests $20M to Advance Artificial Intelligence Technologies for the Geosciences.” U.S. National Science Foundation, 30 Aug. 2024,  www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-invests-20m-advance-artificial-intelligence-technologies. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

Rhodes, Richard. The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Simon & Schuster, 1986.

Weinberg, Alvin M. “Impact of Large-Scale Science on the United States.” Science, vol. 134, no. 3473, 21 July 1961, pp. 161–4, doi:10.1126/science.134.3473.161. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

Weinberg, Steven. “The Crisis of Big Science.” The New York Review, 10 May 2012, www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/05/10/crisis-big-science/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

Full Article

Big Science refers to scientific projects that are conducted on a large scale and at great expense. These projects require teams of researchers, sophisticated equipment, and large amounts of funding, usually from a national government. The concept of Big Science emerged in practice before being formally defined later and was first utilized during World War II in the Manhattan Project, the development of the first atomic bomb. After the war, the Manhattan Project became the template for future Big Science research, as national governments increasingly began allocating funds toward scientific projects. Some of the most high-profile scientific accomplishments of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries were the result of Big Science, including the Apollo space program, the Human Genome Project, and Europe’s Large Hadron Collider.

Background

Prior to World War II, most scientific research was conducted on a relatively small scale by individual scientists who worked either alone or with a few assistants. Many of these scientists were on staff at universities and did research and experiments in school-funded laboratories or in private facilities. Isaac Newton, for example, developed his theories of motion and gravitation while at Cambridge University in England. Albert Einstein was working as a patent clerk in Switzerland when he came up with his special theory of relativity.

In a way, the origins of Big Science can be traced back to small-scale experiments conducted at a laboratory in Manchester, England. In 1911, physicist Ernest Rutherford discovered the nucleus of the atom by noticing how electrically charged radioactive particles bounced back after being directed at a piece of gold foil. This meant that a dense nucleus—a core of protons—was at the center of the atom and was surrounded by a cloud of orbiting electrons. Rutherford made this discovery with a staff of two assistants and a grant of 75 pounds from the Royal Society of London.

Rutherford’s experiment only determined that atomic nuclei existed; the scientific limitations of the era did not allow physicists to penetrate the orbiting electrons to examine the atom’s center. In the 1930s, American scientist Ernest Lawrence invented a device called a cyclotron, a machine that uses magnetic and electrical fields to accelerate particles to the speeds required to break through to the atomic nucleus.

Lawrence’s first cyclotron was small and cost less than $100. As Lawrence improved the technology, the size and cost of the cyclotrons continued to increase. To house these inventions, he acquired his own building from the University of California in Berkeley and established the Radiation Laboratory. By 1939, Lawrence’s cyclotron had grown to 184 inches and required the construction of a building on a hillside overlooking the campus. At its height, the Radiation Laboratory employed more than sixty scientists and dozens of technicians.

That same year, the American government became aware that German scientists were working on a weapon that used the energy released by splitting atomic nuclei. In 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt allocated $6,000 to start research on the possibility of the United States developing its own atomic weapon. After the United States entered World War II in 1941, Roosevelt signed a secret order authorizing the creation of an atomic bomb. The effort was code-named the Manhattan Project after the New York City headquarters of the US Army Corps of Engineers.

After scientists successfully created the first controlled nuclear chain reaction at a facility in Chicago in 1942, the government began allocating even more resources to the project. In July 1945, the first successful test of an atomic bomb was conducted in the New Mexico desert. Less than a month later, two bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, helping bring about the end of the war and ushering in the nuclear age. More than 120,000 people at thirty research sites across the country were involved in working on the Manhattan Project. The total cost of the effort was estimated at about $2 billion.

Impact

The success of the Manhattan Project prompted more large-scale cooperation between government and science. In 1961, physicist Alvin Weinberg, director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, coined the term Big Science in an article in Science (magazine). Weinberg defended the practice, comparing it to the creation of the pyramids of Egypt or the medieval cathedrals of Europe.

The increasing reliance on Big Science was spurred on in part by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, as both sides engaged in a contest of political and scientific one-upmanship. The competition to dominate the fledgling space race led the United States to develop the Apollo program, a decade-long effort to send a manned spaceflight to the moon. On July 20, 1969, the program accomplished its goal when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. The cost of the mission was estimated to be about $23 billion and the project employed more than four hundred thousand people. Later space programs have continued this work, including efforts to return humans to the Moon and to support long-term exploration through international partnerships.

Another example of Big Science is the Human Genome Project. In 1988, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), in cooperation with several international groups, began funding an effort to sequence, or “map,” the molecules that make up human DNA. Because of the complexity of the DNA strands, the project was expected to take more than fifteen years to complete. Researchers at more than twenty laboratories around the world finished the project in 2003, two years ahead of schedule. The NIH estimated the total cost at $2.7 billion. The success of this project led to efforts to study human cells and to develop medical treatments based on genetic information.

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) was supported with funds from the US National Science Foundation (NSF). LIGO is an observatory spread out over two sites in the United States—one in Hanford, Washington, and the other in Livingston, Louisiana. LIGO is designed to detect gravitational waves, distant ripples in the fabric of space-time caused by massive objects in space. The NSF funded the project at a cost of about $1.1 billion through multiple phases. In 2015, LIGO detected the first evidence of gravitational waves, which were originally predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916. The observatory has gone on to make several other notable discoveries. LIGO works with other observatories, including Virgo in Europe and KAGRA in Japan, to improve the detection of gravitational waves and to study events in space more accurately.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a ringed particle accelerator about 16.7 miles long built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) three hundred feet below the ground on the border of France and Switzerland. The LHC, which operates on principles similar to Lawrence’s cyclotron, uses almost ten thousand magnets to accelerate particles close to the speed of light. Scientists study the collisions of these particles in an effort to understand the fundamental building blocks of matter. The project took almost twenty-five years to complete at a cost of about $10 billion. Scientists have planned upgrades to increase the number of particle collisions, allowing for a more detailed study of matter and energy.

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to computer systems that are able to perform complex tasks involving reasoning, decision-making, and problem-solving. Large-scale artificial intelligence research often requires powerful computer systems, large data sets, and major funding from governments and private organizations. These features make AI an example of Big Science.

In 2024, the US National Science Foundation announced its $20 million investment to fund twenty-five projects through the Collaborations in Artificial Intelligence and Geosciences (CAIG) program. The projects aim to advance both AI and the geosciences to improve natural resource management in response to climate change and to prepare for and mitigate natural hazards such as earthquakes. Other large projects use advanced computer models and global data to study Earth’s climate and environmental systems. Many Big Science projects often involve multiple countries working together, such as efforts to develop energy sources and to build large research facilities.


Bibliography

Abbott, B. P., et al. “Multi-Messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger.” The Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 848, no. 2, 16 Oct. 2017, doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa91c9. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

“Apollo’s Army.” Smithsonian Magazine, 17 June 2009, www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/apollos-army-31725477/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

“Artemis.” NASA, 16 Mar. 2026, www.nasa.gov/artemis/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

“Artificial Intelligence.” U.S. National Science Foundation, 2025, www.nsf.gov/focus-areas/ai. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

Chu, Jennifer. “A ‘Bang’ in LIGO and Virgo Detectors Signals Most Massive Gravitational-Wave Source Yet.” MIT News, 2 Sept. 2020, news.mit.edu/2020/ligo-virgo-gravitational-wave-0902. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

Hiltzik, Michael. Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention that Launched the Military-Industrial Complex. Simon & Schuster, 2015.

“The Human Genome Project Completion: Frequently Asked Questions.” National Human Genome Research Institute, 14 Apr. 2003, www.genome.gov/Pages/Education/Smithsonian_Exhibition/Human_Genome_Project_FAQ.pdf. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

“In a Few Lines.” ITER, www.iter.org/few-lines. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

“The Large Hadron Collider.” European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), home.cern/topics/large-hadron-collider. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

Lejtenyi, Patrick. “A Guide to Big Team Science Creates a Blueprint for Research Collaboration on a Large Scale.” ScienceDaily, 8 Sept. 2023, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/09/230908125953.htm. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Advancing the Science of Climate Change. National Academies Press, 2010.

“NSF Invests $20M to Advance Artificial Intelligence Technologies for the Geosciences.” U.S. National Science Foundation, 30 Aug. 2024,  www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-invests-20m-advance-artificial-intelligence-technologies. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

Rhodes, Richard. The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Simon & Schuster, 1986.

Weinberg, Alvin M. “Impact of Large-Scale Science on the United States.” Science, vol. 134, no. 3473, 21 July 1961, pp. 161–4, doi:10.1126/science.134.3473.161. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

Weinberg, Steven. “The Crisis of Big Science.” The New York Review, 10 May 2012, www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/05/10/crisis-big-science/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.

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