ICTP is leading an effort to help ensure that skilled scientists and technicians are available when the SESAME project is up and running.

Two Steps Closer

BESSY I near Berlin, Germany

Not all of the news coming from the Middle East is as bad as the daily reports we read and hear about. Life does go on--and, in some instances, progress is being made toward a better future.
In science the greatest hope for the region lies in the SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) project. The aim is to eventually install in Jordan a decommissioned synchrotron light facility, BESSY I, previously located near Berlin, Germany (see photo above).
The German government has donated the facility for reconstruction. The expectation is that once it is up and running, BESSY I could become a focal point for scientists and technicians from countries throughout the Middle East--much the same way as CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland has served as a gathering place for European scientists since the 1950s.
Last May, the project, which had been spearheaded by Herwig Schopper, former director general of CERN, was officially placed under the wing of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). That should make it easier to raise the funds necessary to rebuild the facility at the chosen site of Allaan, about 30 kilometers from Jordan's capital city Amman.
This past June, UNESCO arranged for the shipment of BESSY I, which had been disassembled and placed in storage in Germany. BESSY I has now been relocated to a warehouse in Jordan's Zarqa Free Zone, awaiting its next and hopefully final move to its new home.
The project carries both scientific and political importance. Access to synchrotron beamlines will foster cross-disciplinary research in physics, chemistry, biology and materials science, enabling scientists from countries throughout the Middle East to work together on challenging questions that should help advance science throughout the region on many fronts. At the same time, the environment of co-operation and interaction created at BESSY I may provide an opportunity for promoting peace in a region that has been plagued by distrust and violence for too long.
ICTP has been involved in the SESAME project since its beginning. The Centre's focus has been on training scientists and technicians who can then work at the facility once BESSY I is re-assembled and operational.
"It's an important opportunity for the Centre," says Massimo Altarelli, head of the ICTP group on synchrotron radiation related physics, and science director of Elettra, Trieste's synchrotron radiation source based in AREA Science Park.
"ICTP's SESAME training committee has received applications from scientists and engineers throughout the Middle East. Those chosen not only attend training activities in Trieste but have a chance to work in synchrotron radiation facilities throughout Europe. As a result, the effort boosts co-operation among scientists and engineers both in the Middle East and Europe. And since the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna is helping to fund and arrange the training activities in Trieste, it helps to draw the Centre and the Agency closer together too."
The ultimate goal is to enable scientists and engineers acquire state-of-the-art knowledge and skills in electronic control systems, vacuum technologies, accelerator physics, and applications in radio frequencies that can be used both in synchrotron physics and, more generally, advanced communications systems.
So far three applicants have been chosen for training in Trieste: two from Jordan, each of whom has received a three-month contract, and one from Pakistan, who has received a six-month contract. The costs for the training will be covered by IAEA, which will work with the Centre to secure funds for additional fellowships.
Both the overall SESAME project and the ICTP-led training component are strongly supported by King Abdullah of Jordan, whose country is hosting the facility. SESAME's other members are Bahrain, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Israel, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, the Palestine Authority, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.
The SESAME project itself will not gain official legal status until at least six members approve the statutes and begin paying their dues. Meanwhile, the hoped-for opening of SESAME has recently moved two steps closer to reality with the transfer of the facility from Germany to Jordan and the launching of the ICTP-led training programme.

For additional information about ICTP's SESAME training programme, please contact the SESAME Training Committee, c/o ICTP, Strada Costiera 11, I-34014 Trieste, Italy; fax +39 0402240410.

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