Guide Voice: It looks like a giant
doughnut… but it’s the UK’s biggest investment
in science for 30 years.
Diamond Light Source is a synchrotron – a super microscope
– and it’s currently being built at the Rutherford
Appleton Laboratory near Oxford. It’s costing £250
million and is due to open in two years’ time.
SOT: Dr Sarnjeet Dhesi, Beamline
Scientist, Diamond Light Source: - “When it
opens, Diamond will be the most powerful source of X-rays in the
world. We will use those X-rays to study anything from
pharmaceutical products to materials that are used in hard
discs.”
Guide Voice: But Diamond Light Source
won’t just be used by British scientists.The European
Commission wants member states to pool resources and share
facilities like this.The Commissioner for Science and Research says
collaboration is the only way to remain competitive.
SOT: Janez Potocnik, EU Commissioner
for Science and Research: - "If you compare us
with some of our global competitors – that’s for
example the US or Japan – they are spending more on science
and research in terms of their gross domestic project –
that’s obvious. That’s why we need to step up our
efforts in this direction.”
Guide Voice: The Commissioner was speaking
at a media briefing hosted by Rutherford Appleton. It’s the
first of four such briefings to be held throughout Europe over the
next few months. The aim is to make scientists aware of the help on
offer at a European level – and how to access it.
SOT: Herve Pero, Head of Unit, Research
Infrastructures, DG Research: - “Here in Europe
the networking aspect – the way that people work together
– is something that is really European. Our American
colleagues are jealous of the way that the European Union has been
developing this collaboration, this trust, between European
scientists.”
Guide Voice: The new initiative has been
welcomed by Rutherford Appleton’s Space Science Department.
It’s already heavily involved in joint projects with
scientists overseas.
SOT: Jeremy Curtis, Space Science
Department, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory: -
“In space science the missions that we’re building
are incredibly complicated so we need experts in a lot of different
fields, and no one country has a monopoly on all those amazing
experts So we have to collaborate to make sure that each team has a
complete range of expertise on it.”
Guide Voice: The Commission is in fact
doubling its science and research budget – a move applauded
by some of Europe’s top scientists.
SOT: Helmut Dosch, Max Planck
Institute, Stuttgart, Germany: - “Europe has no
oil fields and Europe has no gold mines. Our oil fields and gold
mines are the brains of our younger generations. So we need these
new technologies to be able to survive in this
world.”
Guide Voice: But will the
Commission’s new emphasis on science stop the so-called brain
drain? The renowned materials scientist Massimo Altarelli –
who left his native Italy to work in the States – remains
cautious.
SOT: Massimo Altarelli, Sincrotrone
Trieste ScpA, Trieste, Italy: - “Many more
people emigrate from Europe to America – among scientists
– than vice versa. So that phenomenon is taking place…
It is clear.”
Guide Voice: Of course the advantage the
United States has over Europe is that it’s one nation with a
common language but some believe that when it comes to science,
Europe’s multiculturalism is more of a help than a
hindrance.
SOT: Professor John Wood, Chief
Executive, CCLRC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory: -
“A lot of member states still see themselves in
isolation, and then we get the lowest possible denominator. But if
we can work together then we can beat the others very
significantly, mainly because of the fact that we have these
different cultures and different ways of looking at things. And we
can start to spread these facilities around Europe and actually get
a dynamic taking place that is very, very creative
indeed.”
END
