Eraldo Zaccheroni (1926 – 2026)

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Eraldo Zaccheroni, an influential engineer who worked at CERN during the Organization’s earliest years, sadly passed away in Faenza, Italy, on 10 August at the age of 100.

Born on 21 May 1926 in Meldola, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, Eraldo earned his degree in electrical engineering from the University of Bologna in 1953. He then joined the newly founded CERN in 1954 to work within the Proton Synchrotron Division’s Linear Accelerator (LINAC) Radio Frequency group.

Eraldo designed various components for CERN’s first linear accelerator (known today as Linac1), which entered service in 1958. Among the projects he led, the design of a pulsed, high-power radio-frequency amplifier using vacuum tubes stands out the most. Of these amplifiers, which were designed in the 1950s, two units are still in operation today in the Linac3 ion linear accelerator, more than 70 years later.Eraldo Zaccheroni left the Organization in the late 1950s to join the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, after which he continued his career at the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) as Chief of Staff to the Vice-President.

Colleagues who maintain the equipment he designed