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Underpinning the technological revolution - ISIS marks 20 years of science research

December 16, 2004

Today (Thursday 16 December 2004) ISIS, the world-leading science facility at the CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, is celebrating 20 years of scientific research since the first neutrons were produced on 16 December 1984. Neutrons are an extremely versatile probe used by researchers across all the scientific disciplines to understand the structure and behaviour of materials at the atomic and molecular level.

The Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government, Professor Sir David King, is presenting the keynote lecture at an event today to celebrate the past successes and future opportunities for ISIS. On the anniversary he said: "The twentieth anniversary of ISIS - one of the UK's major scientific achievements - is a real cause for celebration. This gigantic and complex particle accelerator allows scientists to probe deep into the internal structure of different materials and is the world leading pulsed neutron and muon source."

Dr Andrew Taylor, Director of ISIS, emphasises the enormous impact that ISIS has had for a generation of UK scientists from physicists and chemists through biologists to material scientists and engineers: "Scientists from across the world use ISIS to help understand the structure of a very wide range of materials - solids and liquids, metals, plastics and ceramics; from large engineering components to very thin films a single molecule thick. This understanding helps us improve and develop these materials for a diverse range of applications - such as new types of data storage for computers, improved welding technology for aircraft, better soaps and detergents, and smaller, longer-life batteries for mobile phones and laptops."

Professor Bill David, ISIS Senior Fellow comments: "ISIS has played a key role in the basic understanding of many of the new materials that have been discovered over the past 20 years. Our understanding and ability to develop important new materials - which include high temperature superconductors, buckyballs, polymers and plastics - have been shaped by the insights that have been provided by the diverse range of instruments at ISIS."

The anniversary also provides an opportunity to look ahead at the next 20 years of science research which ISIS will make possible. For example, the power of modern computers relies on the ability to store very large amounts of information, and new technologies to increase the density at which information can be stored are needed. Dr Sean Langridge, Group Leader of the Large Scale Structures Group at ISIS explains: "Neutron scattering techniques provide us with unique information on data storage systems and allow us to test new ideas about how to tackle the problem. We believe that scientific experiments at ISIS will lead to the development of a new generation of storage and electronic devices."

Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC)

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