French fillip for building the synchrotron

The French government is to contribute Pounds 35 million over seven years towards building a new generation synchrotron radiation s ource in the United Kingdom.

The building of the synchrotron, the location of which has yet to be announced, was announced last year by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Wellcome Trust, which between them have already pledged Pounds 145 million. The machine will provide an extremely high energy source of X-rays, which scientists and engineers will use for research i n areas like structural biology.