On 14 April 2007, on the occasion of his visit to Jordan, Mohamed ElBaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), visited SESAME’s building being constructed in Allan by the Authorities of Jordan.
News
Can a recycled synchrotron become an oasis of peace in the Middle East?
By Mike Perricone.
National Synchrotron Light Source visiting scientist Mehmet Aslantas has won the prestigious Margaret C. Etter Student Lecturer Award for a talk on his recent work: how to reduce the effects of radiation damage to protein crystals during synchrotron x-ray studies.
Balqa- his majesty king Abdullah on Monday laid the cornerstone for the international center for synchrotron- light for experimental science applications in the middle east (SESAME) at Princess Rahma University College.
The SESAME (Synchrotron Radiation Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) project to build a synchrotron light source in the Middle East took a step closer to reality in June, when it received unanimous approval from the UNESCO executive board. The board endorsed SESAME as "a model that should be made known to other regions", and described it as a quintessential UNESCO project.
Even as violence escalates in the Middle East, plans for SESAME, a synchrotron light source intended to use science to promote peace in the region, are moving forward.
The Middle East's international synchrotron research facility, which will bring together scientists from at least 11 countries, has finally been given a home. The new centre will be in Jordan, at a site halfway between the country's capital, Amman, and the West Bank.
Jordan is the first-choice site for a synchrotron light source intended to promote peace and science in the Middle East. That outcome of a vote this past April by representatives from 10 of the project's 11 member states is expected to be ratified in late June at a meeting in Amman, Jordan. However, supporters of opening the facility in Armenia, the backup site, continue to campaign for a fresh vote.
A new international centre for synchrotron radiation research could do for the science of the Middle East what CERN has done for science in Europe.
Funding has been found for dismantling Germany's synchrotron light source BESSY I. The pieces will be carefully packed and tracked in preparation for putting the facility back together somewhere in the Middle East.