As much as 310 million euros has been
\ninvested in this project, called ELI-NP, eagerly awaited by both the European
\nUnion, and the rest of the world, and 50 scientists from Romania and abroad
\nhave so far been hired to work on it. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The European Commissioner for Research,
\nScience and Innovation, Carlos Moedas, who has recently visited the Magurele
\nPlatform, has described it as one of the projects that define his open science
\nstrategy. I started my career as an engineer, so this project is music to my
\nears, Moedas said. The important thing is for information to reach people in
\nthe most intelligible form and to help them, the Commissioner said, mentioning
\na chain of scientific breakthroughs, from the discovery of antimatter, which
\nled to the possibility to diagnose cancer, to Eistein’s 1915 Theory of
\nRelativity, which enabled us to use the GPS technology today. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Carlos Moedas pleaded for better
\npromotion of the ELI-NP, which he sees as a link between sciences and a magnet
\nfor researchers. He has also said the project is one of the most important on
\nthe continent and an opportunity for Europe to promote itself as a platform for
\nsciences. It is also something that connects science with people’s day-to-day life,
\nand we should talk about it more and attract as many people as possible to
\nexperiment and to make the invisible world observable, Carlos Moedas added.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The complex in Magurele hosts the nuclear
\nphysics section of the ELI (Extreme Light Infrastructure) project. The Romanian
\npillar complements the other 2 components of the project, namely the
\nhigh-energy beam science facility in Prague, and the Attosecond Light Pulse
\nSource component to be hosted by Szeged in Hungary. The Romanian facility will
\nfocus on fundamental research on ultra-high intensity laser and laser-matter
\ninteraction. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The laser power will reach an impressive
\n10 million billion watt each, the equivalent of 100,000 billion light bulbs of
\n100 W each. As experts explained, if a laser pulse of such power lasted for one
\nsecond, it would require the entire amount of electricity produced in the world
\nfor nearly 2 weeks to fuel it. This means the over 1,000 times the combined
\npower of all power plants in the world. But, because the light pulse is extremely
\nshort, of just tens of femtoseconds (one millionth of one billion second), the
\naverage energy consumption level is reasonable. The Magurele project sets an
\nexample, scientifically and financially, according to the head of the Atom
\nPhysics Institute attached to the platform, <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Nicolae Zamfir: This is a symbolic project
\nfor the European Commission, it is the first piece of major infrastructure
\nfinanced by regional development funds. This is one of the most highly
\nappreciated projects in Brussels.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
While attending a meeting dedicated to
\nthis project, Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos said that involvement was needed on
\nthe part of local authorities and private businesses to reap the full benefits
\nthat the Magurele laser could grant: <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Dacian
\nCiolos: This
\nresearch project can generate technological development, it can generate the
\ndevelopment of university learning, of a university campus, start-up
\nenterprises, SMEs working in various domains, using the technology and the
\nfacilities offered by this laser. There is already an urban development project
\nfor developing this area. We now have a study of the economic and social
\ndevelopment potential of the region. Within a few months, by mid-December, we
\naim to have a governance concept for this territorial development project.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
According to the Prime Minister,
\ninvesting in the Magurele laser could generate annual revenues of six hundred
\nmillion Euro, and around seven thousand jobs. Dacian Ciolos added that Romania
\nwants to go beyond research and applied research, using the laser as a source
\nfor local development. One example to this end is the competition for urban
\ndevelopment for rebuilding the town of Magurele around the laser facility. Four
\nstudents from the Bucharest School of Architecture won first prize with the Sun
\nValley Project, with streets, squares, parks and a balanced approach to
\ntechnology, public transportation and office buildings. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The worlds largest laser, currently under construction at the platform in Magurele, near Bucharest, is scheduled to be ready by 2019, and is expected to generate substantial benefits in fields like medicine, pharmacy, astrophysics and nuclear physics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":70352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43939],"tags":[29483,29053,31048,31051,44522],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-155568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-future-starts-today","tag-dacian-ciolos","tag-european-commission","tag-laser","tag-magurele","tag-sun-valley"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n