The ESRF operates the most powerful synchrotron radiation source in Europe. Each year several thousand researchers travel to Grenoble where they work in a first-class scientific environment to conduct exciting experiments at the cutting edge of modern science. At the ESRF, physicists work side by side with chemists, materials scientists, biologists, medical doctors, meteorologists, geophysicists and archaeologists. Industrial applications are also growing, notably in the fields of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, petrochemicals and microelectronics.