The Christian Science Monitor

Open SESAME: Jordan’s particle accelerator breaks down atoms – and barriers

Egyptian infrared beamline scientist Gihan Kamel holds up a piece of an ancient Nabatean statue, one of the hundreds of items being scanned and analyzed at the light synchrotron at SESAME in western Jordan on Oct. 23.

Three scientists in white lab coats huddle as a faint red beam of energy the diameter of a small coin streams into the square trailer.

In a graceful, almost choreographed movement, they check computer readouts, adjust the beam, and jot down notes as data splashes out in charts of red, green, and blue on the monitors.

They barely speak a word, for good reason – they speak different languages. But here they have no need for their mother tongues.

“We come from many countries,” Messaoud Harfouche, an Algerian beamline scientist, says as he checks a monitor. “But we all speak the language of science.”

In what is being hailed as a breakthrough in science diplomacy, a particle accelerator in

Common groundFostering collaboration

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