I had a chance recently to visit my old romping ground, the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven Lab. I spent 3 years there doing my postdoc work, and the facility is about to be shut down at the end of Sept. 2014 as the new facility, the NSLS II just right next door, will take over. The old lady is still running, but you can tell that she's old, decrepit, with lots of aches and pains, and about ready to retire. One can tell that this place is about ready to be shut down when even the vendors no longer refill the vending machines!
I was there on the day that Long Island, NY received 13 inches of rain within a 12 hour period, and walking in the next day, I saw leaks and a few water issues. Oh yeah, the old lady is definitely ready to go. The NSLS was such a workhorse during her glory years. To say that she was over-subscribed is an understatement. The place was packed with users on top of each other. The presence of two separate rings, one for the x-ray and the other for the UV/IR/low energy photons, made it quite unique and useful for many applications and studies.
Across the street from her is the new lady on the block, the NSLS II. She's huge when compared to the old lady, she's shiny and new, more powerful and sleeker. I look forward to visiting her when she's in operation, but I'll never forget the one I spent a lot of days and nights with. She gave me good data. How many dates have you been on where you can say that?
So long, NSLS!
Zz.
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