Sesame has an Italian heart

 

The Italian National Institute for Nuclear PhysicsElettra Sincrotrone Trieste and the International Centre for Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME)  have signed a scientific cooperation agreement for the development and manufacture of high-technology resonant cavities for the SESAME accelerator in Jordan, with a contribution of €1 million. The agreement, which relates to funding allocated last year by the Italian Ministry for Education and Research, was signed at the National Laboratories in Frascati, where the Council of project scientists is meeting today and tomorrow.
 
SESAME is the first accelerator to be used as a synchrotron light source in the Middle East. It will be dedicated to experimental sciences and will be used as an extremely powerful microscope with applications in various fields ranging from life sciences to cultural heritage and nanotechnologies. The project brings together scientists from Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Pakistan and Turkey, countries that do not cooperate in any other context.

“Italy has chosen to play a leading role in a visionary scientific enterprise with great social and political value” commented Fernando Ferroni, President of the INFN – in one of the most fragile and complex areas on our planet. Our hope is that SESAME’s role in the Middle East will be similar to that of CERN in Europe, after World War II.”
 
Apart from the contributions to building the machine, equally important will be the training of local researchers and technicians at the laboratories of INFN and Elettra. During the Sesame Council, a scientific collaboration and training agreement will also be signed by Italy and Egypt, in the presence of Andrea Meloni, Director General for Promotion of the National Economic System (Ministry for Foreign Affairs).

Rome, May 12, 2014

Source: INFN Communication Office




 


 


 

Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 July 2014 10:58