Lab closes after two million hours of science
Monday, 04 Aug 2008 00:01
The Synchrotron Radiation Source opened in 1980
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A UK-based science laboratory that helped lead to the development of safer aircraft and the memory of iPods is to close today after carrying out two million hours of science.
The Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS) at the Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) Daresbury Laboratory in Warrington opened 28 years ago, triggering 60 similar machines around the world.
It produced beams of light so intense that they revealed the structure of atoms and molecules inside materials.
Modern life has a lot to thank for its work.
Among its achievements, the SRS helped develop new medicines by studying the atomic structure of proteins; improved the taste of chocolate and the safety of aircraft by looking at the crystal formations in chocolate and metal; and helped improve the magnetic memory of the iPod.
Its most famous achievement 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.
And during its lifetime the SRS collaborated with almost every country active in scientific research.
It hosted over 11,000 users from academia, government laboratories and industry worldwide, leading to the publication of more than 5,000 research papers in leading journals.
The SRS has resulted in numerous patents and has solved over 1,200 protein structures.
An official closing ceremony took place today, 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.
"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," he commented.
"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."
Professor Colin Whitehouse, STFC's deputy chief executive, added: "The SRS was one of the world's most pioneering scientific inventions and Daresbury can be very proud of its outstanding achievements."
Similar research will now be carried out at the Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire, the UK's direct successor to the SRS.