Israel, Iran and Palestine join in scientific project

Sesame project, in which scientists from Israel, Iran and Palestine together construct the first synchrotron in the Middle East, science ahead of politics.

Eiliezer Rabinovici, Professor of High Energy Physics of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said: "We have proposed something that is like a tale from the Arabian Nights." Sesame Rabinovici speaking, one of the boldest experiments physical planet. "We built a kind of parallel universe. Even though our countries are partially faced, we, the researchers want to build the first particle accelerator in the Middle East. "

Sesame is a synchrotron, a kind of giant X-ray machine but much more powerful than the machines used in medicine. There are over forty synchrotrons operation worldwide. Rabinovici is VP of Sesame Project. The independent research that builds the accelerator and must manage it operates under the umbrella of UNESCO. Money and researchers come mainly from official member countries. Along with Israel are present, among others, Turkey, Cyprus, Pakistan, Egypt ... and Iran.

Sounds unbelievable, but true: Israel and Iran physicists collaboratively build particle accelerator. Also the start of the experiment almost seems a story: Once upon a time, in 1995, when researchers from Israel and Palestine met in a Bedouin tent in Egypt and began to plan a synchrotron in the Middle East. A few weeks ago, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated. "We started to commemorate him together with a minute of silence," says Rabinovici. "I still echoes in the ears."

Support Sesame important names, including Sir Christopher Llewellyn Smith, physicist and former director general of CERN in Geneva, mirror in which researchers look at the Middle East. "In any case, CERN was founded after the war, which made things easier," says Rabinovici.

Physical borderless work feverishly to operationalize the synchrotron next year, but the final sprint is an obstacle. Over fifty delegates speak at hotel on gigaelectrovoltios and millions fail. They have invested in the installation of over 36 million euros, and it would take almost six. The operation of the center will have a less than 4.5 million cost.

Sesame reminds a little of the West-East Divan Orchestra Daniel Barenboim, composed of Palestinian and Israeli musicians. "Barenboim, by comparison, has it easy," says Rabinovici. "He unites two cultures us a dozen."