Two Million Years Ago, This Homo Erectus Lived the High Life
Archaeologists are rewriting the story of an early human child whose fossilized jaw and impacted teeth were discovered more than 40 years ago ...
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
Just as H. erectus eventually migrated across much of the prehistoric world, the child’s jawbone went on its own improbable journey some two million years after its owner died. Mussi got permission from the Ethiopian government to carry the precious artifact by hand to the <anchor>European Synchrotron Radiation Facility</anchor> (ESRF) in Grenoble, France. The cutting-edge imaging facility’s Extremely Brilliant Source can analyze objects in detail with X-rays 100 billion times brighter than those commonly found in hospitals.
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# About Us

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## With a brand-new generation of high-energy synchrotron, the ESRF is the world's brightest synchrotron light source and a centre of excellence for fundamental and innovation-driven research in condensed and living matter science. Located in Grenoble, France, the European Synchrotron owes its success to the international cooperation of 20 partner countries.

On August 2020, the ESRF opened its completely rebuilt x-ray source, ESRF-EBS (Extremely Brilliant Source), the world’s first fourth-generation high-energy synchrotron. ESRF-EBS opens new vistas for X-ray science in imaging condensed and living matter from metre to nanometre scales, enabling scientists at a large to address the global challenges facing our society such as health, climate change and environment, but also energy and innovative industry.

What is the ESRF? How does a synchrotron work? Discover the European Synchrotron with this video. All the videos of the ESRF are available on the YouTube channel [Light for science.](http://www.youtube.com/lightforscience)

The ESRF - The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility - is the most intense source of synchrotron-generated light, producing X-rays 100 billion times brighter than the X-rays used in hospitals. These X-rays, endowed with exceptional properties, are produced at the ESRF by the high energy electrons that race around the storage ring, a circular tunnel measuring 844 metres in circumference.

Each year, more than 9000 scientists from around the world come to Grenoble, to “beamlines”, each equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Thanks to the brilliance and quality of its X-rays, the ESRF functions like a "super-microscope" which "films" the position and motion of atoms in condensed and living matter, and reveals the structure of matter in all its beauty and complexity. It provides unrivalled opportunities for scientists in the exploration of materials and living matter in many fields: chemistry, material physics, archaeology and cultural heritage, structural biology and medical applications, environmental sciences, information science and nanotechnologies.

From making history in 1988 as the world's first third-generation synchrotron, to launching the first of a new generation of high-energy light source in 2020, the force of the ESRF is its capacity to innovate, pushing technology to its limits and seeking ever-higher performances in order to provide scientists with state-of-the-art instruments. ESRF-Extremely Brilliant Source (EBS) improves X-ray performances of brilliance and coherence by a factor of 100 compared to the previous source. Based on an award-winning lattice design, ESRF-EBS paves the way for a new standard of synchrotrons around the world.

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12-09-2024

### First users on ID21's nanoscope

[Read more](/home/news/general/content-news/general/beamlines-receive-first-users-working-on-health-research.html)

09-09-2024

### New results show potential for boost in geothermal energy

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02-09-2024

### Jean Daillant starts as new DG of the ESRF

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