Paris

Jordan has been chosen as the proposed host of an international research centre for the Middle East, the organizers of the project announced last week. It is hoped that the new centre will be able to mirror the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) in stimulating regional research collaboration.

The centrepiece of the facility, to be known as Sesame (Synchrotron Radiation for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East), will be an upgraded version of BESSY-1, a decommissioned 0.8 GeV synchrotron now located in Berlin, which is being donated by the German government (see Nature 399, 507–508; 1999).

A team of Russian and Armenian scientists — Russia is one of the ‘observers’ of the the project — has begun to dismantle BESSY-1, and plans to have it ready for shipping out by September.

The recommendation that Jordan should host the site was made by 11 members of an interim council set up to represent the countries in the region. Final approval will be sought in June from the full interim council. Armenia was second choice if the project cannot go ahead in Jordan.

Herwig Schopper, former director-general of CERN and president of Sesame's interim council, says that choosing Jordan from the seven candidates was “difficult”. But he says that it was “objective and cooperative and that is the point of the project — to bring together different nations and to use science as a catalyst and a tool for peace”.

The centre will be operated and supported by its member countries — Armenia, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, the Palestinian Authority and Turkey — with support from countries including the United States, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Italy and Russia.

Sesame will be open to scientists from any country in the region or elsewhere. Planned research programmes include structural molecular biology, molecular environmental science, surface and interface science, micro-electromechanical devices, X-ray imaging, archaeological microanalysis, materials characterization, and medical applications.

The centre is likely to be the largest modern science facility in the Middle East. According to Khaled Toukan, president of Al-Balqa' Applied University in Jordan, the country was chosen partly because of its central location.

Although the project has wide backing from the governments of the region, as well as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), which is overseeing the project, Sesame has yet to raise enough money to build the centre and cover its initial operating costs.

Jordan's King Abdullah II has promised that Jordan will contribute US$1 million a year for five years to the centre, leaving the other countries to split the remaining costs.

Schopper estimates that installing and upgrading the synchrotron will cost $20 million. Installing and equipping ten beamlines in five years, together with building the facility will require a similar amount, he says. Annual operating costs are estimated at $3.5 million.

Funding is sought from the European Union and American peace efforts. “The problem now is the financing,” says Schopper. “Now that we have decided on a site I hope we can move ahead.”