Faces and Places (page 5)

New Products

CEDIP Infrared Systems has announced a new toolkit for use with its range of cameras, which enables simple setting up and control via the LabVIEW programming environment. The toolkit enables users to acquire, store, retrieve, display and process still images and video using CEDIP's infrared cameras, and is provided on a CD-ROM. For further information, call +33 1 60 37 0100, e-mail cedip@cedip-infrared.com or visit the website www.cedip-infrared.com.

Fujikura Europe has released the SpliceMate, which it claims is the world's smallest laser fusion splicer for fibre optics, measuring 110 x 100 x 80 mm and weighing 640 g. The splicer is designed to be highly portable, so can be used in areas of limited access. For further details, call Neil Bessant on +44 20 8240 2027.

Lambert Instruments has developed an intensified charge-coupled device camera, the LI²CAM, for industrial and scientific applications. It offers high sensitivity down to the single-photon level combined with speeds of up to 15 fps at a full resolution of 1392 x 1040 pixels. Other features are fast gating down to 40 ns (5 and 2 ns are optional) and external triggering. Computer control is via a USB2.0 interface. For further details, call +31 50 501 8461, e-mail info@lambert-instruments.com or see www.lambert-instruments.com.

Pfeiffer Vacuum has issued its 2005-2007 catalogue, covering the complete range of vacuum technology, including equipment for producing, controlling and measuring vacuum, as well as accessories and components. It contains information on the field of application of each product, as well as technical data and part numbers. For an online version see www.pfeiffer-vacuum.com.

Photonic Products has added Panasonic's range of aspherical glass lenses to its portfolio of optoelectronic components. The compact, lightweight lenses, with focal lengths from 0.69 mm to 20 mm, enable devices to be smaller and lighter but with higher performance. Data sheets are available from www.photonic-products.com/products/optics/panasonic_lens.htm.

CERN Courier welcomes letters from readers. Please e-mail cern.courier@cern.ch. We reserve the right to edit letters.

Sergio Fubini, MESC and SESAME
I read with sadness the obituary of Sergio Fubini (CERN Courier March 2005 p39) and would like to add that he played a crucial role in bringing international science to the troubled region of the Middle East. A considerably significant point in this respect was the Sinai Physics Meeting, held at the Egyptian resort of Dahab, on the Gulf of Aqaba, in November 1995. This historic meeting, which brought together Arab, Israeli and Western physicists, was conceived by Fubini, and led directly to the formation of the Middle East Scientific Cooperation (MESC), a network of scientists promoting research co-operation between Europe, the US and the Middle East.

The very idea of an international synchrotron radiation facility in the Middle East emerged from the MESC workshop in 1997. During this workshop Herman Winick of SLAC and Gustav-Adolf Voss, a former director of DESY, suggested using the components of Berlin's BESSY-I machine, scheduled to be closed down in 1999, as the core facility for a new laboratory in the Middle East. The brilliant idea of relocating BESSY-I was taken further through MESC in a series of meetings held under the auspices of UNESCO, CERN and the Abdus Salam ICTP. With the persuasion of Fubini and Herwig Schopper (former director-general of CERN) the German government finally agreed to donate the decommissioned BESSY-I to Middle East (the only region other than Africa without a synchrotron).

The rest is all history: BESSY-I was relocated to Jordan and the synchrotron laboratory with the name of SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) was put under the auspices of UNESCO. SESAME, now in the advanced stages of completion, has evolved from a vision to a system.
Sameen Ahmed Khan, Middle East College of Information Technology, Oman.