Some reflections on the growth of synchrotron radiation research

The history of the development of our understanding of nature is, to a large extent, a narrative of the ways and means by which we have employed electromagnetic radiation to study matter in its several states Early man sensed useful and important properties of his environment through the interaction of that environment with the visible portion of the spectrum of the sun's radiation Later, he extended his observations to more subtle manifestations of the incredible complexity of creation when he began to record the apparent motions of the sun, moon, planets and stars and to correlate those observations w~th the cyclic, seasonal variations in his environment Still later, when refraction was d~scovered and s~mple lenses could be made, he was able to refine his observations on the macroscopic level and to extend then to the mlcroscopac domain, and thence to begin the study of organisms that had long shared the earth with hxm but whose existence he had only just begun to suspect With the subsequent discovery of diffraction in the 17the century by Grimaldi, visible electromagnetic radiation, which until that time had been the primary tool of the natural philosopher in his observational dlSclphne, came to be stud~ed as a natural phenomenon m its own right and, wxth that step, we entered the age of modern science and technology In the last three ccnturles, progress in science and technology has been over more rapid and ever more strongly coupled to our abllltles to exploit the electromagnetic spectrum With sophisticated radio frequency generators and detectors, we probe the surfaces of our planetary neighbors, and study the dynamics of d~stant stellar objects With our recently developed capablhttes in the infrared, we are able to study our ecology and many of the processes by which energy is transported about in the heat engine which is our atmosphere. High energy physicists, using electromagnetic radiation generated by particle accelerators, investigate with steadlly increasing resolution the fundamental structure of matter as the energy of these machines increase From our present perspective, we can see that comparahvely recently there has been a fundamental change in the nature of our dependence on electromagnetic radiation as a principal probe in our study of nature Originally, our rate of progress in understanding our physical environment was limited to and shaped by the development of techniques for using natural sources of electromagnetic radiation, such as the sun and cosmic rays. Now that rate of progress is set largely by our capabihty of generating and controlling electromagnetic radiation ~n the laboratory for our purposes It is by now clear that, with the development of each new source of electromagnetic radiation, there has come a quantum jump in our observational capablhtles and in the rate of advance of science and technology In recent history one thinks of Hertz, R~Sntgen, Cockroft and Walton, Lawrence, Kerst and Gould and the profound effect upon society of the results of the apphcatlon of the tools they have given to that "legion of patient spectroscopists" that Wetskopf has spoken of so affecttonate!y Now we have had delivered into our hands a new source of electromagnetic radiation and once agam we are witnessing a quantum jump in our observational capabihties. In contrast to the examples just cited, this source is the product of the efforts of many not associated with the uses to which this source is being put, and this is a novelty perhaps as great as the source itself. In point of time, the serious use of synchrotron radiation as a tool or means for carrying out researches in a wide range of disciplines is barely a decade old Yet m this short penod, we have witnessed a growth internationally that rivals the rate of the application of the laser but without the enormous infusion of industrial and military funds that characterized that development Only recently have we seen substantial financial support, world-