ESS Director General Helmut Schober and Technical Director Kevin Jones on 4 November welcomed the German State Secretary from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Wolf-Dieter Lukas, to experience the construction progress of ESS and to discuss the way forward.
During an intensive hour the German representatives were given a guided tour of the large facility, including meeting the German nationals working at ESS. The State Secretary visited ESS together with his team and engaged in a good dialogue on the facility.
“Germany has a long and strong neutron science tradition and is a key member state of ESS, that highly contributes to the excellence of the facility” says Helmut Schober, ESS Director General. “We are pleased to see Germany’s active interest in ESS and to, in person, share our progress toward completion and that we in real life could show the State Secretary how much ESS has progressed, despite the pandemic situation the last two years.”
“ESS is a major investment, and a good investment, where German laboratories and scientists are working closely with the facility” says Wolf-Dieter Lukas. “ESS will be a unique and important facility when operational, not only for German scientists, but for the European science community. The strong neutron science community in Germany is looking forward to the completion of ESS.“
The German State Secretary and his team appreciated the progress update and the tour of the large facility, especially noting the wide international collaboration and the more than 50 nationalities represented among its employees.
During the site tour the State Secretary got the opportunity to interact with some of the German colleagues at ESS, who appreciated the interest from their native country. “This visit by the State Secretary and the German delegation was very positive”, says Katrin Michel, Laboratory Technician.