I'm just flying back from the European XFEL Users Meeting that was held Jan. 27-28 in Hamburg Germany.

I’m off to the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility for several reviews including their upgrade plans. The plane affords time to read and when I opened my computer I saw a previous blog that reminded me I’m overdue.

The LCLS is moving along. As part of a project that lasts more than five years it is often difficult to see progress and the goal cans seem just beyond the horizon. There are, however, events that bring your perspective in line with the real progress.

Knowing the atomic structure is fundamental to developing our understanding of the properties of materials, but if one could know how the atoms move by making molecular movies we would gain invaluable insights. To make a molecular movie we need a movie camera with the ability to see the atoms and to take the individual stills that will make up our movie on the time scale of the atomic motion.