YEREVAN (ArmRadio)—A linear particle accelerator, named AREAL, was inaugurated Tuesday at the CANDLE (Center for the Advancement of Natural Discoveries using Light Emission) Synchrotron Research Institute in Yerevan.
The modern accelerator is an exceptional and huge wealth, CANDLE’s Executive Director Vasily Tsakanov and President of the State Committee on Science Samvel Harutyunyan said at the opening ceremony.
They informed that Armenia will become a member of Europe’s accelerator network in the near future, which means the country will enter the European scientific space and parts of some European programs will be worked out in Armenia.
The CANDLE international research center was established in Armenia by a government decision adopted in 2008.
The AREAL project is the first phase of CANDLE’s synchrotron light source creation in Armenia. Speaking about the successful completion of the first phase, Vasily Tsakanov noted that “Armenia has built a modern accelerator, which is unprecedented in the region.”
The construction of the accelerator became possible thanks to the state-of-the art technologies provided by Germany and Switzerland.
The total cost of the project is estimated at 20 million euros. Armenia has spent just 580,000-640,000 euros, thanks to its European partners covering most of the costs.
I’m just curious, but why would Germany and France put up the bulk of the costs in building this accelerator? On the surface its great that we have created this research tool, but again I ask, why was it funded out of blue by two foreign states from the EU? Is this part of a grant, a loan? Whats the deal? A whole separate article is needed to explain why and who this came to fruition?
Curious and concerned Armenians would like to know.
Let all those people who constantly complain about the oligarc Armenian government and Presidents digest this for a while. With limited resources and an all out blockade, they are still managing to get things in order. All economic indicators have grown 3.6% this year (that’s 3 times higher than the United States and most of Europe). The Armenian military has become the most disciplined and powerful in the caucuses despite Azerbaijan’s billions and Armenia’s hi tech industry and jewelry making industry is starting attract international attention and growing upwards of 25% per year. I’m not saying things are perfect and there is a long way to go to reduce corruption and increase efficiency and professionalism in government but we are getting there faster than our neighbors and certainly much faster than most countries in the world. Imagine if we didn’t have a blockade. We can now see the importance of breaking free from blockade and the opening of borders, as well as joining growing trading blocks. So please look carefully at the details before going off on a knee-jerk reaction to criticizing and complaining about things just because some in the deranged press keep pushing the negative agenda.
Armenia was a world leader in laser research and development. That was squandered and great Armenian laser scientists went to the four corners of the world instead of developing laser weapons for the defense of Armenia. BTW, rudimentary lasers were used successfully during the liberation of Artsakh in the 90’s against the barbarians.
Now that we have the capability to master the laser technology we should use them to destroy the neighboring countries.