The Middle East's synchrotron is now open Sesame

In 2000, a group of researchers sat dejected at a dinner party in Amman, Jordan, when a man in a jogging suit knocked at the door. The newcomer, fresh from his daily exercise, had been invited by the host to listen to the researchers' problem. For decades, the scientists explained, they had been trying to convince the governments of the Middle East to put aside their differences and build a particle accelerator together.