Editing Canadian Light Source (section)

===The road to the CLS: 1972–1999===
[[Image:CSRF Grasshopper.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The [[monochromator]] from the first CSRF beamline, now a museum piece at the CLS]]
[[Image:SAL LINAC.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The SAL LINAC, seen at the CLS in 2011]]

Canadian interest in [[synchrotron radiation]] dates from 1972, when Bill McGowan of the [[University of Western Ontario]] (UWO) organised a workshop on its uses. At that time there were no users of synchrotron radiation in Canada. In 1973 McGowan submitted an unsuccessful proposal to the [[National Research Council (Canada)|National Research Council]] (NRC) for a feasibility study on a possible synchrotron lightsource in Canada. In 1975 a proposal to build a dedicated synchrotron lightsource in Canada was submitted to NRC. This was also unsuccessful. In 1977 [[G. Michael Bancroft|Mike Bancroft]], also of UWO, submitted a proposal to NRC to build a Canadian [[beamline]], as the [[Canadian Synchrotron Radiation Facility]] (CSRF), at the existing [[Synchrotron Radiation Center]] at the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]], USA, and in 1978 newly created [[Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council|NSERC]] awarded capital funding. CSRF, owned and operated by NRC, grew from the initial beamline to a total of three by 1998.

A further push towards a Canadian synchrotron light source started in 1990 with formation of the Canadian Institute for Synchrotron Radiation (CISR), initiated by Bruce Bigham of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited ([[AECL]]). AECL and [[TRIUMF]] showed interest in designing the ring, but the [[Saskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory]] (SAL) at the [[University of Saskatchewan]] became prominent in the design. In 1991 CISR submitted a proposal to NSERC for a final design study.  This was turned down, but in later years, under President Peter Morand, NSERC became more supportive. In 1994 NSERC committee recommended a Canadian synchrotron light source and a further NSERC committee was formed to select between two bids to host such a facility, from the Universities of Saskatchewan and Western Ontario. In 1996 this committee recommended that the Canadian Light Source be built in Saskatchewan.

With NSERC unable to supply the required funds it was not clear where funding would come from. In 1997 the [[Canada Foundation for Innovation]] (CFI) was created to fund large scientific projects, possibly to provide a mechanism to fund the CLS. In 1998 a University of Saskatchewan team led by [https://artsandscience.usask.ca/profile/DSkopik Dennis Skopik], the SAL director, submitted a proposal to CFI.<ref name="Bancroft">{{Cite journal
|last=Bancroft |first=G. M.
|year=2004
|title=The Canadian Light Source – History and scientific prospects
|journal=Canadian Journal of Chemistry
|volume=82 |issue=6
|pages=1028–1042
|doi=10.1139/v04-027
}}</ref> The proposal was to fund 40% of the construction costs, with remaining money having to come from elsewhere. Assembling these required matching funds has been called "an unprecedented level of collaboration among governments, universities, and industry in Canada"<ref name="SPHistory">[http://media.cns-snc.ca/history/Canadian_Light_Source.html "Synchrotron: Canadian Light Source 70 years in the making'"],''The Star-Phoenix'' 20 October 2004</ref> and Bancroft – leader of the rival UWO bid – anckowledged the "Herculean" efforts of the Saskatchewan team in obtaining funds from the University, the City of Saskatoon, [[Saskatchewan Power]], NRC, the Provincial Government of Saskatchewan, and [[Western Economic Diversification]].<ref name="Bancroft"/> At a late hour CFI told the proponents that it would not accept the SAL [[LINAC]] as part of the proposal, and the resulting shortfall was met in part by the spontaneous announcement by the Saskatoon city council and then Mayor [[Henry Dayday]] that they would double their contribution as long as other partners would. On 31 March 1999 the success of the CFI proposal was announced.

The following month Skopik took a position at [[Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility|Jefferson Lab]] in the USA. He decided not to stay on as director of the Saskatoon facility because his expertise was in subatomic particles, and, he argued, the head of the CLS should be a researcher who specializes in using such a facility. His successor was Mike Bancroft<ref name="SPHistory" />