January 1999 marked the birth of a new scientific section at the ICTP: Synchrotron Radiation Related Physics. The group will be headed by Massimo Altarelli, who will also serve as the new general manager and scientific director of the synchrotron laboratory, "Elettra," located in Trieste's Area Science Park. A world renowned expert in the physics of synchrotron light, Altarelli comes to Trieste from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, where he led the Theoretical Physics Group. With Altarelli's arrival, the Centre will forge a closer partnership with Elettra, as ICTP researchers and visiting scientists increasingly share their knowledge of theoretical physics with their "experimentalist" counterparts. At the same time, the partnership will broaden training opportunities for Third World scientists in such advanced fields as material electronics, magnetic properties, surface structures and the crystallography of macromolecules.