Replacing a beloved tool is never easy. Erik Johnson had worked with the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) for nearly 15 years when he and his colleagues began thinking about its replacement. But this switch wasn’t a matter of walking down to the hardware store.  

The NSLS, a Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory, opened in 1982. Over 30 years, scientists—three of whom won Nobel prizes for their work—used its intense beams of light during the course of more than 55,000 visits to study atomic structures and chemical processes. Johnson came to the NSLS in 1985 as a post-doctoral student. By 2000, he and other leaders in the field realized the NSLS would soon be past its glory days.

They began dreaming up its successor: the NSLS-II. After five years of planning and research, the Office of Science approved the project to move forward.

“There was elation in the hallways,” says Johnson.

 …