France and Germany share their thermal‐neutron reactor

Unlike most tools of experimental condensed‐matter physics, powerful sources of thermal neutrons demand a high initial investment, and the expense may be too great for a single nation. At the Institut Laue‐Langevin, Grenoble, the French and German governments have solved the problem by sharing the costs of their new high‐flux research reactor. The project, which will provide the highest external flux of thermal neutrons available, is moving from the construction to the experiment stage, and Rudolf Mössbauer has recently been appointed director of the Institute.