OPEN SESAME: A Horizon2020 Project to Help the SESAME Light Source

The challenges of conceiving, constructing, commissioning, and operating a large- scale research facility are significant. This is all the more so when the facility—the Syn- chrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) light source hosted near Amman in Jordan—is the first major international science center in the Middle East and neighboring regions. The need for an international light source in the Middle East was first recognized by eminent scientists such as the Pakistani Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam in the 1980s. In 2017, this need become a reality. SESAME’s inauguration was held on May 16, 2017. Developed under the auspices of UNESCO and modelled on CERN (although it has very different scientific aims), SESAME is the result of hard work and de- termination on the part of governments in the Middle East and neighboring countries, but also that of governments of the observer coun- tries of the center and scientists at large. It is also the result of goodwill and generosity on the part of international organizations and syn- chrotron light sources worldwide. Its aim is to foster scientific and technological excellence as well as international cooperation amongst its members, which are currently Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, Palestine, and Turkey. The first user experiments took place in July 2018 and the first paper using ex- perimental data from SESAME was published in June 2019.