Louis Burnod, our friend and colleague, passed away suddenly on 20 December. We are all deeply affected by his passing. Although he had left the world of work to join the ranks of the retired, he remained very active, curious, dynamic and open, just as we had known him throughout his career at CERN.

A graduate of the École nationale supérieure d’ingénieur en électrotechnique at the University of Grenoble, Louis Burnod first worked at the Orsay linear accelerator laboratory (LAL), from 1957 to 1971. In 1963, he became the head of the linear accelerator service and at the start of the 1970s he was sent to CERN by LAL as a visiting scientist to work on the control system of the Proton Synchrotron (PS). In 1971, he became a member of the CERN personnel as an engineer and joined the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) project. He later moved to the Accelerators Directorate (AC-DI), where he remained until his retirement in 1999.

Louis Burnod came to CERN with an excellent knowledge of accelerators and quickly became an indispensable member of the teams working on the main project at the time, the SPS, to which he made hugely valuable contributions. He subsequently participated in all the development phases of the machine, in particular its transformation into a proton-antiproton collider.

In 1990, he joined the LHC management team, helping to drive this unique project towards its first approval in 1994 and final approval in 1996.

At work, his collaborative spirit, constructive remarks and sense of humour were much appreciated and contributed to a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere. 

Those who worked with him could not help but praise his courtesy and the clear way in which he explained his requests, which were precise and exacting but never over-emphatic or over-complicated, since they were always logical and well-prepared.

He was also well-known for being a great lover and defender of nature. Through the AGENA (Association Gessienne de Défense de la Nature) association, he actively contributed to the promotion and creation of the Haute Chaîne du Jura national nature reserve.

He loved to introduce people to the Jura, a place that he had so championed. The mountains held no secrets for him and inspired a child-like joy that he could barely contain. He tore down the slopes like a mountain goat and, on his cross-country skis, he always went off-piste for maximum enjoyment. No one could hope to keep up with him.

We were lucky to have shared a meal with him a few days before he left us. He always enjoyed these reunions and never missed a chance to catch up with a few colleagues and talk about his many passions.

Our thoughts are with Jeanine, and his children and grandchildren, of whom he was so proud. We will not forget Louis and how he always had time to help and listen to others.

His former colleagues and friends