The need for an international synchrotron light source in the Middle East was recognized by eminent scientists such as the Pakistani Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam in the early 1980s and the CERN and Middle East based MESC (Middle East Scientific Cooperation) group headed by Sergio Fubini, a theoretician at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research).
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At a ground breaking ceremony at the SESAME site in Alaan Jordan on 6 January 2003 Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, announced that the SESAME project (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) is formally launched since he has received notice from seven Founding Members that they accept the statutes for the governance of the project.