Particles for Peace_ Middle Eastern Countries Collaborate on an Accelerator
Physics has always been one of the most globalized of professions .
Physicists think of themselves as supranational , rising above national and cultural concerns .
supranational: 超国家的な
They may not always live up to this ideal , but at least they try .
live up to: に従って行動をする、に添う、こたえる
I got a glimpse of this as a college student in 1987, when I spent my spring break at Bell Labs .
get a glimpse: ちょっと［ちらっと・ちらりと・一目］見る、垣間見る、片鱗｛へんりん｝をうかがう【表現パターン】get ［catch］ a glimpse
High-temperature superconductors had just been discovered , and I had some fun levitating magnets ( and collaborated on a published paper ) . Over lunch , the talk turned to poking holes in the iron curtain .
levitating: 浮遊する
poke: つつく
iron curtain: 鉄のカーテン
Lab scientists were making contacts with colleagues in the Soviet Union , organizing joint conferences and translating articles from or into Russian .
They told me stories about Andrei Sakharov and the Pugwash conferences , which brought together scholars from all countries to work toward nuclear disarmament and later won a Nobel Peace Prize .
disarmament: 武装解除、軍備縮小
This idealistic urge remains powerful .
In April , at a workshop I was attending on black holes , I talked to Eliezer Rabinovici , a theoretical physicist at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem .
He and his colleagues may well be the only people on the planet to have gotten Arabs , Iranians , Turks and Israelis to agree on anything .
may well: 尤も
Many countries around the Middle East have signed on to their project to build a particle accelerator for joint use :
SESAME .
The decades-long effort has made understanding the nature of space , time and matter look trivial .
I had a vision to try and work with our neighbors , to do something for our common humanity , Rabinovici says .
common humanity: 人類共通
That sounds bombastic , but that's what SESAME is all about .
bombastic: 誇大な、大げさな
all about: ～が全てで
The project has managed to hang together despite the tumult of the past two decades .
hang together: 団結する、つじつまが合う
tumult: 騒ぎ、がやがや、騒動、暴動、(心の)激動、激情、心の乱れ
It chose a laboratory site in Jordan in 2000, completed the building in 2008 and settled on the synchrotron design .
synchrotron: シンクロトロン
It is not really a particle physics project but a general source of radiation for chemistry , biology , pharmaceutical development and other fields-a diversity that is matched to the region's needs .
pharmaceutical: 調剤の、製薬の、薬学の、薬剤(師)の
is matched to: Null
In March , Iran , Turkey , Jordan and Israel pledged & ;dollar ;20 million for the main accelerator .
The project has now gone , cap in hand , to the U.S. and the European Union for the balance , about & ;dollar ;15 million .
cap in hand: 帽子を手にして、うやうやしくする、かしこまる
In 1954 European scientists founded CERN near Geneva so that German , French , British and other ex-adversaries would have a place to shoot particles rather than bullets .
ex-adversaries: Null
It was one of the places where Europe was reborn , Rabinovici says .
SESAME arguably has the tougher task because the adversaries are not yet ex .
arguably: (十分)論証できることだが、おそらく(間違いなく)
Another Israeli theorist , Ramy Brustein , compares it to climbing on an ice wall .
Yet in 1987 everyone thought the same of cultural exchanges across the Berlin Wall .
Adapted from Observations at blogs .
