National Synchrotron Light Source Symposium

At present there are more than 50 operational synchrotron radiation research facilities in the world, 9 more in construction, and about 10 in advanced stages of design and planning. See www.lightsources.org for links.

Although most facilities are in the most technologically advanced countries, facilities are operational in Brazil, China, India, Korea, and Thailand, and in construction in Armenia and Jordan. Feasibility studies which led to decisions to construct facilities in developing countries concluded that these facilities would bring many benefits in a cost-effective manner including:

• Create a world-class interdisciplinary research laboratory
• Promote science and technology
• Address local biomedical & environmental issues/concerns
• Provide an environment for collaborations & individual development
• Train graduate students who will no longer have to go abroad
• Attract scientists working abroad to return
• Promote development of high-tech industry (capacity building)
• Use scientific cooperation to promote peace & understanding between people from different traditions, religions, races, & political systems

In the UNESCO-sponsored SESAME project (www.sesame.org.jo) seven countries in the Middle East have joined to create a synchrotron radiation research center which is now in construction in Jordan. In endorsing SESAME, the UNESCO Executive Board and General Assembly called it “a model for other regions” and “a quintessential UNESCO project for capacity building through science”. A similar regional project for southern Africa is now being discussed. In this talk the SESAME project will be presented (its design, cost, and experimental programs).