ESS Towards First Neutron Production

                    Special Colloquium on the Occasion of Markus Steck's 65th Birthday and Retirement

The European Spallation Source, ESS, in Lund is expected to have first beam on target and thereby first neutron production in the summer of next year. The proton accelerator has already had nominal beam current to 74 MeV in the normal-conducting part of the linac, and installation of the superconducting linac is progressing rapidly. Installation of the spallation target is similarly making rapid progress, and the 15 neutron instruments will be commissioned in three tranches until the start of user operation in 2027. The presentation will give an introduction to ESS and its science goals and review the status of installation and commissioning activities towards start of user operation.