European Spallation Source ERIC

About European Spallation Source ERIC

The European Spallation Source, or ESS, is a state-of-the-art science facility being built in Lund, Sweden, by a collaboration of 13 European nations. Similar to a giant microscope, ESS will allow scientists to use neutrons to look deep inside materials to see where the atoms are and what they are doing.  This can help them design new materials which could lead to better batteries, greener plastics, or stronger engineering materials. It could also help life science researchers develop new vaccines or more effective medicines. ESS is one of the largest science and technology infrastructure projects being built today. The facility design and construction include the most powerful linear proton accelerator ever built, a 4-tonne, helium-cooled tungsten target wheel, 15 state-of-the-art neutron instruments, a suite of laboratories, and a supercomputing data management and software development centre. In the context of its history and future as a scientific organisation, however, it is more than the sum of its parts: it is a brand new organisation, being built from the ground up.