Università del Salento's CEDAD celebrates 25 years

The CEDAD (Center for Applied Physics, Dating, and Diagnostics) of the University of Salento is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The milestone will be marked on Saturday, October 3, at the Ecotekne Campus with an event titled ‘From research laboratory to international infrastructure.’

Originally established around a single 3 MV Tandetron accelerator laboratory in Brindisi, CEDAD was the first Italian center dedicated to radiocarbon dating research and services using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). The center has since expanded to include nuclear physics, chemistry, and optical and electronic microscopy laboratories located between Brindisi and Lecce.

CEDAD is integrated into international research networks, including CERIC-ERIC and ACTRIS, and its Aerosol & Climate laboratory provides data to NASA and AERONET. The center’s technologies support diverse fields such as archaeology for artifact dating, environmental science for atmospheric particulate study, forensics for age estimation, and life sciences for drug marking. Having secured over 20 million euros in funding through various projects, the Puglia Region recognizes the center as a strategic infrastructure.