Page 178 - Neutrons for Sciences and Society

Neutrons for Science
same as those of the ILL. France (27.5%) and Germany (25.5%) are included again; Italy (15%) has a share almost the same as that for the U.K. (14%), Switzerland (4%), the Nordic countries, etc101.
There is a natural synergy between the two institutes, each retaining its independence. For example Andreas Freund, who had developed monochromator crystals at the ILL, moved to perform the same type of work at the ESRF. A building was constructed
in 1992 for joint activities; it includes a cafeteria, library, and the group of theorists. It certainly helps save money. For the ILL the disappearance of the library and cafeteria from the main building is a big loss for the scientific life and human relations. More recently a new guesthouse for use of visiting researchers has opened and offers direct contacts between the scientists from the two institutes.
A growing number of projects require the use of the two sources, neutrons and X-rays. One area in which the complementarity between these two sources is important is structural biology.
High intensity X-ray sources, achievable with synchrotrons, have enabled considerable progress by facilitating measurements of increasingly large entities in smaller and smaller crystals.
However in the case of complex objects composed of several proteins X-rays come up against the difficulty of knowing
which of these proteins belongs to any element determined by X-ray diffraction. This happens in the case of ribosomes. This enormous structure (on the scale of a cell) is the factory where the cell synthesises proteins. It is composed of two sub-units, one
101 Addition 2018: Current shares are France 27.5%, Germany 24%, Italy 13.2%, UK 10.5%, Russia 6%, Belgium and The Netherlands 5.8%, Nordic countries 5%, Spain 4%, Switzerland 4%.
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