There are almost 50 synchrotron light sources in 23 different countries around the world, but Africa is currently the only habitable continent without such a facility. These machines work by accelerating electrons to high energies and then injecting them into a circular storage ring where they emit powerful beams of X-rays. The X-rays can then be used to study the structure and properties of materials in a range of disciplines, from condensed-matter physics to biology.