WASHINGTON, DC.- The Smithsonian Institution and Synchrotron Soleil of France announced a new partnership between the organizations to use the power of the third-generation synchrotron to study and preserve priceless collections at the Smithsonian. This is the first partnership between the Institut Photonique d’Analyse Non-destructive Européen des Matériaux Anciens platform at Soleil and the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute. A synchrotron is a particle accelerator that produces brilliant beams of light (10,000 times brighter than sunlight) that can be used for scientific analysis. Soleil is an acronym for “source optimisée de lumière d’énergie intermédiaire du lure.” The Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute is a scientific research unit of the Smithsonian that conducts research on collections and their preservation. The announcement was made during the signing of a memora