The celebrations was held in a large, glass-walled area on the ground floor of the new EPAC building.
Attendees heard from Nick Abbey, Mace Construction Director, Alan Partridge, Executive Director Large Scale Facilities, and John Collier, Director of the CLF, who talked about the ideas that led to the building, the challenges of building the structure itself to house such a powerful laser, and the original people who dreamt up the EPAC project.
In his speech, John spoke fondly of the late Prof. David Neely, who was with the CLF for many years, and who was fiercely bright, full of ideas and a natural collaborator. John shared how it was David who helped kick start the whole project.
Then, John and Alan unveiled a plaque which dedicated the EPAC building to Prof. David Neely.
John talked of the story of the decade long vision of EPAC, and David's innovative thinking lit the spark.
The plaque reads:
“This building for the Extreme Photonics Applications Centre is dedicated to the memory of
Professor David Neely
an inspirational CLF scientist without whom it would not have been possible.”
