The Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) is an independent laboratory located in Allan in the Balqa governorate of Jordan, created under the auspices of UNESCO on 30 May 2002. Aimed at promoting peace between Middle Eastern countries, Jordan was chosen as the location for the laboratory, as it was then the only country that maintained diplomatic relations with all the other founding members; Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, the Palestinian Authority, and Turkey. The idea, to create a joint Arab-Israeli scientific collaboration, goes back to the 1980s and took a more concrete form in discussions at CERN in 1993. The project was launched in 1999 and the ground breaking ceremony was held on 6 January 2003. Construction work began the following July, and the facility was finally inaugurated on 16 May 2017 under the patronage and presence of King Abdullah II. The construction of the project costed around $98 million, with $5 million donated each by Jordan, Israel, Turkey, Iran, and the European Union. The rest was donated by CERN from existing equipment. Jordan became the greatest contributor to the project by donating land and building construction costs, and by pledging to build a $7 million solar power plant, which will make SESAME the first accelerator in the world to be powered by renewable energy. The annual operational cost of $6 million are pledged by the members according to the size of their economies. The facility is the only synchrotron radiation facility in the Middle East and is one of around 60 in the world. , the president of the SESAME Council is Rolf Heuer. He was preceded by Christopher Llewellyn Smith (2008-2017) and Herwig Schopper (2004-2008). All three were previously directors-general of CERN. Khaled Toukan, the chairman of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission, is the current director and former vice-president of SESAME. Background Synchrotron light (also referred to as synchrotron radiation) is radiation that is emitted when charged particles moving at speeds near the speed of light are forced to change direction by a magnetic field. It is the brightest artificial source of X-rays, allowing for the detailed study of molecular structures. When synchrotrons were first developed, their primary purpose was to accelerate particles for the study of the nucleus. Today, there are almost 60 synchrotron light sources around the world dedicated to exploiting the special qualities, which allow it to be