On 18 December 1959 the state contract was signed and DESY was born. However, like some monarchs, the German DESY laboratory in Hamburg chose a different date for its official birthday. On 23 May, 2400 people took their seats in a balloon-filled marquee to celebrate DESY's 40th birthday, with the theme "Unity in diversity".

DESY director-general Albrecht Wagner proudly welcomed many special guests. Particular welcomes were extended to 88-year-old Willibald Jentschke, a founding father and first director-general of the laboratory from 1959 to 1970, and to Mrs Becker-Wiik, widow of Bjorn Wiik, who was DESY director-general from 1993 until his tragic death last year. Wagner paid tribute to Wiik as a "great visionary" and revealed that donations to a research foundation created in his memory exceeded DEM 75 000 (see "Bjorn Wiik Research Project" below).

Congratulations from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder were conveyed by Edelgard Bulmahn, Federal Minister for Education and Research. She commended the "diversity" - the symbiosis of different research areas at DESY - a theme echoed by Hamburg deputy mayor Krista Sager, who stressed the benefit of doing applied as well as basic research. Sager also acknowledged the impact of DESY on Hamburg: every local resident has heard of DESY and is proud of the laboratory.

Strong emphasis was given to TESLA, a plan for a future TeV linear electron-positron collider running 33 km from DESY into Schleswig-Holstein. Ute Erdsiek-Rave, Schleswig-Holstein Minister for Education, Science, Research and Culture, joked that "Hamburg for once needs Schleswig-Holstein!"

Minister Bulmahn explained that TESLA would be undergoing detailed scrutiny in Germany this year, in comparison with parallel projects in the US and Japan. It is, she believes, the project of the future. "I admire the foresight and courage of Bjorn Wiik in putting this project together," she said.

Five young physicists, representative of the diversity of nationalities under DESY's roof, presented an overview of research at DESY, focusing on the unique HERA electron-proton collider and the Free Electron Laser (FEL). Then party guests were granted "ein Sneakpreview" of the DESY exhibition, Light for the New Millennium, before the public opening.

The exhibition hall will eventually become an experimental area for the FEL project (p26). However, Albrecht Wagner is keen to find a permanent home for the exhibition, perhaps as a cornerstone of a new science museum in Hamburg. With the laboratory poised at another crossroads in its illustrious career, he looked forward to "another exciting chapter in the DESY history book".
Alison Wright, CERN.

Bjorn Wiik Research Project

The World Laboratory Bjorn Wiik Research Project, created in honour of the late Bjorn Wiik, awards scholarships to young scientists from developing countries to enable them to pursue research and training at DESY in particle or accelerator physics, application of synchrotron radiation and high-performance computing. Mikhail Yurkov of Russia, who was one of the first winners of a Wiik scholarship, in recognition of his pioneering work on the FEL, was one of the keynote young speakers at the DESY anniversary event.