“World-class Synchrotron Radiation Science and Discovery”

04/08/08

After two million hours of science a British world first bids farewell

Cleaner fuel, safer aircraft and new medicines, not to mention a Nobel prize, great tasting chocolate and iPods - all of these things have been influenced or made possible by world leading scientific research carried out on the Synchrotron Radiation Source at the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Daresbury Laboratory in Warrington, which closes today, 4th August 2008, after 28 years of operation and two million hours of science.

The SRS was a genuine world first, pioneering the way for the development of 60 similar machines around the world.  Since 1980 it has played a key role in enabling and performing cutting edge research in many areas of UK and international science.  The SRS produces beams of light so intense that they can reveal the structure of atoms and molecules inside materials.  It produces this light by generating beams of high energy electrons travelling close to the speed of light. Over the last 28 years, synchrotron light has supported cutting-edge research in physics, chemistry and materials science and opened up many new areas of research in fields such as medicine, geological and environmental studies, structural genomics and archaeology.

The SRS has improved the quality of our lives in a remarkable number of ways that we take for granted. As examples, it has helped develop new medicines by studying the atomic structure of proteins; it has enabled the production of new materials for use in electronics and clothing; it has led to the development of new detergents. It has even played a role in improving the taste of chocolate and the safety of aircraft by looking at the crystal formations in chocolate and metal.  Even the huge magnetic memory of the iPod is due to research carried out on the SRS.  However, its most famous achievement by far is the critical role it played towards a share of a Nobel prize in chemistry to Sir John Walker in 1997, for solving a structure of an enzyme that opened the way for new insights into metabolic and regenerative disease.

During its lifetime, the SRS has collaborated with almost every country active in scientific research.  It has hosted over 11,000 users from academia, government laboratories and industry worldwide, leading to the publication of more than 5000 research papers in leading journals.  It has resulted in numerous patents and has solved over 1200 protein structures. 

The formal closing ceremony, which takes place at STFC Daresbury Laboratory today, will be attended by leading figures from the machine’s history, including Professor Ian Munro, one of the original founders of the concept that synchrotron light could be used to perform science, and who was responsible for the plans for building the SRS and its operation.  Of the closure Ian said: “It is with immense pride and a great sense of achievement that I look back and contemplate the success of the SRS not to mention the teamwork and expertise at Daresbury that went into building, maintaining and operating this great British scientific facility.  Of course this is a sad occasion for me, but since the day the SRS was first switched on it has always been subject to a fixed life span and this day was always going to come.  The SRS has kept the UK at the forefront of scientific research and now passes its baton onto the new Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire, the UK’s direct successor to the SRS.  Diamond will continue to build on the positive legacy of Synchrotron light research in this country.”

Professor Colin Whitehouse, STFC’s Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Campus Strategy said: “The SRS was one of the world’s most pioneering scientific inventions and Daresbury can be very proud of its outstanding achievements.”  He added: “Though the SRS has gone, Daresbury Laboratory is growing.  It is part of a burgeoning national Science and Innovation Campus and the home of the Cockcroft Institute, a national centre for Accelerator Science and Technology, amongst other world-class research facilities. The Government’s recent announcement of £65M earmarked for Daresbury will provide two new additional Science and Technology Gateway Centres for computational science and engineering and detector systems. Daresbury will also continue its state-of-the-art accelerator science and technology research programmes based on the continuing operation of the Energy Recovery Linac Prototype known as ALICE, a technology which already offers important prospects for new cancer treatments.”

STFC recently announced the launch of the New Light Source Project (NLS). Building on the considerable expertise across the STFC’s Daresbury and Rutherford Appleton Laboratories, Diamond Light Source Limited and collaborating universities, the NLS aims to develop the world’s next most advanced light source technology that will succeed the current generation of international machines so that the UK can continue to sustain world leading capabilities in key areas of research and technology.

Links: STFC | BBC