Deep in the Oxfordshire countryside sits a fantastical proposition: a vast solar panel-clad circle, as enchanting in its way as Stonehenge on the other side of the North Wessex Downs. The Diamond Light Source synchrotron has unlocked a world of previously impossible scientific investigations. Inside the giant ring, 738m in circumference, electrons are accelerated through sets of magnets until they reach almost the speed of light. As they whizz around, they generate an extraordinary brightness some 10 billion times greater than the sun. One researcher dubs the synchrotron a “Disneyland of science”, and it’s easy to see why: the result is even more illuminatory than the firework display over the Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle.
在牛津郡(Oxfordshire)鄉村的深處，矗立著一座奇幻般的宏偉圓形建筑，它周身覆蓋著太陽能電池板，其獨特魅力堪比北威塞克斯丘陵(North Wessex Downs)另一側的巨石陣。鉆石光源同步加速器(Diamond Light Source synchrotron)為科學探索開啟了前所未有的疆域。在這個周長達738米的巨環內部，電子束在多組磁體的作用下被加速至接近光速。當它們高速回旋時，會產生比太陽還要亮百億倍的非凡光芒。一位研究員將這座同步加速器譽為“科學的迪士尼樂園”，這不難理解：其產生的景象，甚至比迪士尼樂園內“魔法王國”(Magic Kingdom)的灰姑娘城堡(Cinderella Castle)上空綻放的煙花更為璀璨，更富啟迪。