What is Advanced Light Source?
The '''Advanced Light Source''' (ALS) at [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]] in [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]], [[California]] is a [[synchrotron light source]]. It was built from 1987 to 1993. 210 scientists and staff currently work there. The ALS is a national user facility. The ALS makes [[wikt:intense|intense]] light for [[science|scientific]] and technological research. It is one of the world's brightest sources of [[ultraviolet]] and soft [[x-ray]] beams. Each year over 2000 researchers go to the ALS from universities, industries, and government laboratories around the world. ALS is funded by the [[U.S. Department of Energy]]'s Office of Basic Energy Sciences. The ALS has over forty [[beamline]]s. They do a wide range of science at the same time as each other. Any qualified scientist can ask to use the ALS beamlines. Proposals are [[wikt:review|review]]ed by others. The proposals which most people agree on are allowed to use the ALS. The ALS does not charge money to use if the user's research is made public. The Advanced Light Source's current director is [[Roger Falcone]]. ==History== Physicists in Berkeley California began working on accelerating [[subatomic particle]]s in the 1920s. In 1929, [[Ernest O. Lawrence]] built the first [[cyclotron]] to accelerate subatomic particles.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lbl.gov/LBL-PID/Berkeley-Lab-history.html|title=Berkeley Lab: The Beginning|publisher=Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory|access-date=December 22, 2011|archive-date=December 4, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204234206/http://www.lbl.gov/LBL-PID/Berkeley-Lab-history.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> During [[World War II]], a laboratory there was a part of the [[Manhattan Project]]. They were given money from the military. In 1942, Lawrence hired [[Arthur Brown, Jr.]] (designer of the [[Coit Tower]] in [[San Francisco]]) to design a new round building to hold Lawrence's new 4.67&nbsp;m (184&nbsp;in) [[cyclotron]]. That building, with expansions, is the one which the ALS is in tod