1127th General Monthly Meeting
Synchrotron Science - An Australian Perspective
Prof. Brendan Kennedy, University of Sydney
Date: Wednesday, 7th July, 2004
Time: 7:00 pm
Venue: Institute Lecture Room 3, University of Sydney
In 2001, the Victorian Government decided to fund the construction of a 3 GeV synchrotron. For Australian researchers using synchrotrons this was very good news. They'd spent the last 10 years practicing 'suitcase' science travelling the world to access synchrotrons overseas. The Australian Synchrotron Research Program, which has operated beamlines at Synchrotrons in Japan and the US since 1993, is a victim of it's own success and these beamlines cannot meet the existing level of demand. Internationally, there are 43 established synchrotrons, with 12 under construction and 19 more in the planning stages. Most developed countries have one or more. A major attraction of any synchrotron is their ability to enable "small science" to be done. This talk will describe what it is that makes a synchrotron so important in many areas of research.
The Guest Speaker for the meeting will be Prof. Brendan Kennedy of the School of Chemistry at Sydney University. A/Professor Brendan Kennedy completed his PhD in Inorganic Chemistry at Monash University. After postdoctoral periods at The University of Oxford and the Australian National University he was appointed to the teaching staff in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney, where he has remained except for his frequent trips overseas to use synchrotrons. He played a pivotal role in The establishment of the powder diffractometer at the Australian National Beamline Facility at the Japanese synchrotron `The Photon Factory' in Tsukuba. He is currently a member of the National Scientific Advisory Committee for the Australian Synchrotron Project and on the PF specialist committee for the Australian Synchrotron research Program.
Report on the General Monthly Meeting
The 1127th July General Meeting was held at the Sydney University in Lecture Room 3, Institute Building. The Guest Speaker was Prof. Brendan Kennedy of the School of Chemistry at Sydney University who gave an excellent talk on Synchrotron Science and its usefulness to science.
Synchrotrons serves to elucidate archaeology, nanotechnology, biotechnology, chemistry and information technology. They can help in pharmaceutical development, medical imaging, environmental studies and agriculture. The first Synchrotron, made by General Electric in 1947 was the size of a car tyre. These days the big ones are kilometres across. The concept of a synchrotron is to produce brilliant bursts of light (photons). The light from a Synchrotron is the right wavelength (size) to look at cells, bacteria, proteins and even objects as small as a water molecule (but not as small as a hydrogen atom). And while they can be used to produce information about tiny objects they can also produce images like X-rays. Prof. Kennedy showed us the difference between a conventional X-ray (of a finger), a synchrotron image where soft tissue could be seen in much more detail and 'Synchrotron phase contrast' which shows exquisite fine structure.
We also learned that small objects for study are held in place with - of all things - blu tac which solidifies under a burst of photons but becomes brittle enough in the process to allow easy removal of the sample after the test.
Synchrotrons are also able to show what's happening in cells. Whether a drug or supplement such as copper actually gets into the cell and performs as we expect it to. One of the great selling points of Synchrotron science is that it is non-destructive. This makes it a great tool in forensic science and investigation of moon rocks and space samples.
Now Australia is building its own $200 Million dollar Synchrotron so Australia's scientists won't have to pack their bags every time they want to do an experiment. There are now 32 Synchrotrons world-wide including 7 in the United States and 14 in Europe. It may even be that Thailand has a Synchrotron up and running before Australia. Our new Synchrotron will be at Monash University in Melbourne on the site of the old drive-in theatre. It will use 400 kilometres of electrical cables, have 400 magnets and will need to be kept at the constant temperature of plus or minus 1 degree Celsius - a challenge in Melbourne where the outside temperature can vary from 40 degrees to below freezing.
The first line is planned to be online in February 2007, which will be a remarkable Australian achievement. But before we get too proud of ourselves we should remember that nature has been making cosmic Synchrotrons - swirling discs of photons - for billions of years!