Herwig Schopper, Director-General of CERN from 1981 to 1988, passed away on 19 August at the age of 101. An eminent physicist and a visionary diplomat, he played a key role in shaping fundamental physics in Europe and in making CERN the prestigious laboratory we know today.
After obtaining a doctorate in optics at the University of Hamburg in 1951, Herwig Schopper turned first to nuclear physics and then to particle physics, working in several European laboratories, including on the weak interaction at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, under Lise Meitner. After becoming a professor at the University of Erlangen, Germany, in 1954, he spent a year’s sabbatical in Cambridge, United Kingdom, and then went on to be appointed as a professor at the University of Mainz, Germany, in 1957. At that time, Germany was rebuilding its fundamental physics infrastructure: the DESY research centre was created in 1959, for example, and was developing its first accelerators. Herwig Schopper played a key role in these trailblazing activities. In 1960, he left for the University of Cornell in the United States, where he carried out physics research at its powerful electron synchrotron. The following year, he became Director of the Nuclear Physics Institute at the University of Karlsruhe. In 1973, he was appointed Director of DESY, a position he held until 1981. Under his leadership, several accelerators were developed and commissioned.
Alongside his brilliant career in Germany, he was involved in research at CERN from the 1960s onwards and held several strategic posts as of the 1970s: Leader of the Nuclear Physics division from 1970 to 1971, Chair of the ISR Committee from 1973 to 1976 and member of the Scientific Policy Committee from 1978 to 1980. During his term as CERN Director-General, which began in 1981, his scientific vision and diplomatic skills played a key role in securing the approval of the Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEP) project, and then in completing the construction of this accelerator, the largest ever built. He contributed to CERN’s global expansion and was one of the architects of the international cooperation model for the LEP experiments, which paved the way for today’s large experimental collaborations. His mandate was also marked by the discovery of the W and Z bosons by the UA1 and UA2 experiments at the SPS proton-antiproton collider in 1983, which was recognised by the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meer the following year.
In the years that followed his term as CERN Director-General, Herwig Schopper continued to work for science, serving on the scientific councils of several laboratories and presiding over the German Physical Society and later the European Physical Society. One of his greatest achievements was SESAME, the international centre for Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East, of which he was a co-founder and the first President of the Council.
A tireless ambassador for fundamental science, he maintained a keen interest in the future of his field and continued to lend support to his successors through his vision and vast experience. Until his very last moments, he never ceased to care deeply about CERN and its work.
“We have lost a brilliant scientist and one of the greatest contributors to CERN and to our field, who really embodied the core values of our Laboratory. We have also lost a cherished friend, who was admired for his insight, his dedication and his warmth”, said Fabiola Gianotti, CERN Director-General. “He will forever remain in our memories.”
A full obituary will appear later in the CERN Courier.