Category: Tribute

Berend Kuiper arrived at CERN at the beginning of 1956, having graduated as an engineer from the prestigious Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands.

At the time, the team led by John Adams and tasked with the construction of the PS was still housed in the barracks next to the Physics Institute of the University of Geneva, only later moving to Meyrin.

Berend was assigned to the Magnet Group directed by Colin Ramm, and here he joined colleagues Bas de Raad, Renzo Resegotti, Simon van der Meer and a few months later Günther Plass.

The project was destined to build the first synchrotron using the alternating-gradient principle.  One of its challenges was to produce a magnetic field that was extremely uniform over the entire 628 m circumference of the PS.

It was thus the principal task of the Group to produce a series of 100 magnets with extreme precision.  Berend and his colleagues proceeded to make magnetic measurements.

Today, almost 60 years later, the same magnets are still being used to produce the protons that feed the LHC.

A few years later, with his colleague Günther Plass, Berend constructed the first Fast Extraction system for the PS beam.

That was the prelude for the construction of the fast ejection system for the Soviet synchrotron at Serpukhov near Moscow, which at the time was the most powerful machine in the world.

Berend, heading a team of some forty engineers and technicians from CERN, some accompanied by part of their families, left for nearly 6 months in Russia to install this extraction system designed and built at CERN.  Taking into account the context of the period, it was a rather exceptional enterprise since one had to ship all the components and all the tools, from the tiniest screw to the smallest screwdriver.

The complex, including a beam transport system and a radio-frequency separator, was CERN’s contribution that allowed European physicists to use a machine that did not have its equivalent in the scientific world.

Back at CERN Berend was one of the handful of staff who contributed to the start of a new European scientific organization: ESO, the European Southern Observatory.

He participated in the project for the first big telescope to be installed in Chile.

At the start of the 1970s he was put in charge of renovating the PS control system which had evolved into a heterogeneous assembly of disparate elements (linear accelerators, injectors, main ring, …) but needed to become the injector for the SPS to be.

Berend was a polyvalent engineer, and though a priori he was not a specialist in these techniques, he built a coherent system with great adaptive potential.  The system was capable of integrating the needs of the SPS, followed by the production and accumulation of antiprotons, then LEP and finally the LHC.

In 1985 he launched the ICALEPCS conferences (International Conference on Accelerator and Large Experimental Physics Control Systems) to bring together all high-energy physics labs for discussions on controls.

These conferences have become the touchstone in the area of controls and Berend was the Guest of Honour at the tenth conference held in Geneva in 2005 (the 15th took place in Melbourne in 2015).

With his big lanky silhouette and unshakable optimism, Berend leaves us with the memory of a great engineer, rigorous but always inspiring his collaborators in the face of external constraints, and able to reach set goals under difficult circumstances.

It is with people like him that CERN achieved the scientific successes that put Europe at the forefront of world science.

His friends and colleagues.

Christian Roy passed away on 31 January. He was 79 years old. His death has deeply touched all those who knew him during his long career at CERN. His close colleagues and his superiors knew his professional qualities and his extreme devotion to the Organization. But it is his qualities as a man that we think of today: the qualities that he put to use in the service of the Staff Association.

In fact, Christian Roy was one of the small number of staff delegates who, during many years, sacrificed a large part of their free time and their family life to work towards the improvement of the working and social conditions of their colleagues, active or retired, present and future. Certain of these delegates played a particular role in the history of social relations in the Organization because they actively worked for a long period in order to improve these relations. For Christian Roy this activity was extremely intense and long. In fact, quite recently, in 2014, he was working with GAC-EPA on the problems of pensioners with the French tax authorities.

For many years Christian was a member of the Executive Committee and President of the Staff Association. A few years before this, one of his predecessors as President of the Staff Association had given a new direction to relations with the Administration. He had also inaugurated a new method of group working, in particular to put forward the point of view of the staff in the management of the pensions system.

Christian Roy took advantage of these changes to enlarge the role of the Staff Association. Driven by his love of legal questions, he got the Staff Association to be more actively involved in the writing of texts governing labour laws. He also led the Staff Association to be really influential in decisions concerning staff employment conditions in general. He thus put his imprint on the social relations of the Organization.

His ideas and his undeniable talents as an orator often gave him a power of conviction that was difficult to resist. We remember the determination with which he organized the first demonstration of CERN personnel in an impressive procession to show the Finance Committee their refusal of measures they were seeking to take. This despite the reticence of many Staff Association delegates.

It was also during his Presidency that the Staff Association started informal meetings with delegates from the Member States. The aim was better preparation of the formal discussions on personnel policy questions, thanks to a better understanding of the points of view of both sides. These informal meetings still take place since all parties can see their utility.

A few years after his Presidency, Christian agreed to represent the Association with the President and Vice-President in the RESCO Commission for the Five-Yearly Review. This participation of the Association in the work was new and our representatives were present only by “invitation” of the Management. It was several years before this Commission officially became the Tripartite Commission that we know today, and where our delegates sit as full members.

With his personal qualities, Christian Roy played an important part in the development of relations between the authorities of CERN and its personnel.

The CERN personnel owes much to his personal qualities, and this is what will remain in our memories.

Bruno Zotter passed away on 22 December 2015. He was one of the leading theoretical accelerator physicists who made essential contributions in the recent period of development of particle accelerators after single-particle stability became well understood, and after which the interaction of the beams of increasing intensity with themselves and their environment moved into focus.

Bruno was the right man at the right time for this. His thesis at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna had dealt with the calculation of electromagnetic fields in high-frequency cavities, one of the topics that accompanied him for the rest of his professional career which, after a short stint at the International Patent Office in The Hague, started with work on low-noise travelling-wave tubes in a US Government laboratory in New Jersey.

The predictable decline of this line of research due to the emergence of semiconductor applications led him to move into the related particle accelerator field at CERN’s ISR where the importance of high-intensity beam phenomena had already been realized during the construction phase.

Bruno refined existing models and developed new ones favouring an analytical approach in his many contributions laying the foundations for the steady increase in circulating proton beam current up to typically 40 A.

He had a propensity for theory and mathematics, a sign of this is his work on the summation of infinite algebraic and Fourier series, but he also participated in experimental work in parallel to advancing theoretical understanding. This included topics as diverse as space-charge phenomena, beam-beam effects, definition and determination of the accelerator coupling impedance characterizing the potential of the adverse interaction of a vacuum chamber with the beam, depending on the frequency spectrum of the latter. He applied his insight also when the SPS became affected by high-intensity effects after the running-in phase and he actively participated in the CERN studies of the options for a post-ISR accelerator at the high-energy frontier, the most prominent examples being LEP, LHC and CLIC.

LEP offered an ideal playground for Bruno, in particular, the interaction of the very short, intense electron bunches with the vacuum enclosure and the long array of RF cavities. An impressive set of publications illustrates his tenacious investment where he put the enormous increase in computer power to good use to refine the comprehensive simulations of collective effects. Although being an appreciated lecturer at Accelerator Schools and Workshops, he found time to summarize the main part of his work in the book “Impedances and Wakes in High-Energy Accelerators” written together with his friend Sam Kheifets from SLAC.

His competence, steady focus on high-level electrodynamics-related accelerator physics and an extraordinary gift for tutoring attracted an amazing number of students and visitors to work with him. Many visitors from abroad remember with gratitude his generous help in overcoming bureaucratic hurdles and getting around in the Geneva area. His colleagues remember him as an open but independently minded, often sarcastic discussion partner. He was known for perseveringly pondering over problems seemingly too difficult or tedious for the rest of us but tricky and, therefore, interesting enough to be worth his investment. After some gestation he would discreetly put his solution on the table. He stayed active in the field even after his retirement in 1997, remaining an appreciated tutor, discussion partner and co-author with a vivid interest in the latest developments and measurement results obtained in the CERN accelerators under the continuous push for higher performance.

Having enjoyed over the years his competence and his benevolent, unassuming attitude, we are proud to have had the chance to work with him, be it as colleague, visitor or student.

His friends and colleagues.

François Wittgenstein, well known for his work on generations of magnets at CERN, passed away on 1 May.

François received his diploma as electrical engineer at the Technical University of Zürich (ETHZ) in 1955 at the age of 24.  He started his career in industry by taking up a job with the Maschinen Fabrik Oerlikon Zürich to work first on electrical locomotives and then on magnets.  In 1961 he joined CERN and was first involved in calculations for the magnet for the 2m bubble chamber, before being put in charge of various projects relating to beams feeding the bubble chambers:  magnets, collimators and even an electrostatic separator.

In 1966, François joined the nascent Big European Bubble Chamber (BEBC) project — a special French-German-CERN programme — that was implemented at CERN during the early 1960s.  With his experience as electrical engineer in industry, François was put in charge to set up a technical group within the BEBC project that would be responsible for the design and construction of a very large superconducting magnet.  This would provide a magnetic field of 3.5T, uniform over the sensitive bubble chamber volume of 35m³.  The stored energy of 800MJ for a single magnet was a record at the time and would remain so until the end of the 20^th century.  During all of the years up to the end of BEBC, François and his team supervised the correct operation of their large magnet.

With the closure of BEBC in 1984 and the start of construction of the Large Electron-Positron collider at CERN, François and his team took up again the task of constructing an even larger magnet.  This time the magnet was normally conducting but nevertheless equally challenging — the assembly of the huge aluminium coils for the magnetic volume of the L3 experiment.  This huge magnet is still an integral part of the ALICE experiment at point 2 on the LHC.

At the beginning of the 1990s, François strongly pushed the early development of large conductors that were needed for the proposed large LHC experiments.  Besides numerous tests in relation to the extrusion parameters, he played an essential role, in collaboration with ETH Zürich, in the development of the system for the online quality-control of the conductor, in particular, of its geometry and the quality of the joint between the copper cable and the aluminium stabilizer.  He continued to take an active interest in this topic after reaching retirement age and, following the approval of the LHC experiment collaborations, he was appointed member of the technical Magnet Advisory Group to review magnet construction until the early 2000s.

After retiring in 1996, François was also active in the CERN-ESO Pensioners’ Association (GAC-EPA).  After many years as observer to the Pension Fund Governing Board, he was formally appointed as the first representative of GAC-EPA to the governing board when the new governance for the pension fund was introduced in 2006.  During this period he had to face many often turbulent and sensitive issues, but his competent contributions and his strong commitment to this task were broadly acknowledged from all sides.

François was a real “CERNois” — we will miss him greatly.

His colleagues and friends

Dr. Gert Günter Harigel passed away on 23 September 2014

Gert Harigel studied physics at the Universities of Marburg and Würzburg, where he obtained his Ph.D with the topic: “Penetration of electrons through matter”, work performed with a bubble chamber, a newly developed detector in the early years of the 1960s.

In 1965 he joined at CERN the newly set up Big European Bubble Chamber (BEBC) project group to participate in the construction of this bubble chamber.  His entire scientific work until his retirement in 1995 was devoted to physics and development of new techniques around bubble chambers.  Much of his contributions, presentations and publications on these topics can be found in the scientific literature.  As visiting professor at US Universities (Columbia NY and Hawaii) and several years at Fermilab (Chicago ), Gert Harigel remained attached to CERN as honorary staff member and to Geneva, which he called “an El Dorado for people ready to work for a combination of science and society”, giving him unique chances to participate in numerous Non-Governmental Organizations, among them the Geneva International Peace Research Institute (GIPRI), the Swiss Pugwash Group (ASP), the International School of Disarmament and Research on Conflicts (ISODARCO).

In 1991 he participated in the Inaugural Conference for “International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility” (INES) at Berlin.

His colleagues and friends who miss him

It saddens us deeply to learn of the passing away of Jean-Paul Diss who died suddenly on 7 June 2012 at his home.

Jean-Paul arrived at CERN in June 1965.

At that time, the Director General, Prof. V. Weisskopf, decided that CERN should have its own occupational physician and Jean-Paul was the first to hold this post where he applied all his skill and energy to provide the Organization with a medical service worthy of the name.

We were all his “patients” in some way, and Jean-Paul knew how to listen to us and give us advice.

He studied medicine in Strasbourg and began his medical career at the Potash Mines of Alsace in Mulhouse.

In 1965 he created the CERN Medical Service, initially housed with the Fire Brigade, but in 1969 moved to building 57.

A second physician, Dr. Etienne Maquet arrived in 1971. The medical team was built up progressively with nurses and a medical laboratory. He created a closely-knit network of medical relationships on both sides of the border, working efficiently and always with great modesty until his retirement in 1993.

When it was decided to create the CHIS Board Committee at CERN (under the CCP) to monitor our Health Insurance Scheme, Jean-Paul was naturally a member. He applied himself deeply in all subjects treated at the CHIS Board and we can highlight, in particular, his involvement in the implementation of the Disability Insurance (Long Term Care) and its follow-up.

After his retirement, he joined the CERN and ESO Pensioners’ Association (GAC-EPA) and as a member of the Committee he continued his activities in the CHIS Board by representing retirees until late 2011; since January 2012 he was an invited member of the Committee as a medical expert.

Although retired, he maintained close relations with the medical world outside CERN, through his contacts, particularly with the Geriatric Services of the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), and with the support of the CERN Medical Service, he organized information conferences on brain aging and helped initiate the participation of CERN in a HUG research program on the subject.

All who knew him during his active period or after retirement, the members of the Committee, the CHIS Board, and the many pensioners who came to consult him, enjoyed his dedication, understanding, his human qualities, his warmth, and his unwavering readiness to help.

Jean-Paul was also an avid musician, organ player and member of the CERN Choir, of which he was president for a while.

Much more than a colleague, Jean-Paul, you were a true friend and we will deeply feel your absence.

Friends of Jean-Paul
The CERN Medical Service,
The GAC-EPA Committee

The family sent these thanks to GAC-EPA members:

CJZ was one of the first staff to join CERN, in May 1954 — when there existed no laboratory and only the beginnings of an organization, which was formally founded in September 1954. Most of those then coming to CERN left a well established position at home, choosing (as J. B. Adams said in an interview) ‘adventure against job safety’.

Coming from the University of Amsterdam as an applied physicist, he was one of the staff whose engineering competence was particularly appreciated at CERN by some of the research staff coming from smaller home institutions. Arriving in 1954, his obvious place at CERN was the PS project, the construction of the 25 GeV Proton Synchrotron, where he took charge of General Engineering. After my arrival 2 years later one of my first (and repeated) experiences in the barracks where we had our offices up to early 1957 was shouting laughter out of C. A. Ramm’s office, CAR was my Group Leader in charge of PS magnets. Kees (CJZ) and CAR had become close friends.

When the PS was finished, CJZ choose to work on developing future projects and joined the Accelerator Research Division. He thus was an important participant in the fierce competition which continued for several years between two projects: increasing the available collision energy by building a pair of 30 GeV storage rings or by building a 300 GeV synchrotron (now known as the SPS). After tests on a prototype electron storage ring it was decided in 1965 to build a system of Intersecting Storage Rings. CJZ joined the ISR Project while still leading the Committee examining proposals from many Member States for possible alternative locations of the SPS. The ISR began operation in 1971 and was stopped in 1983.

From 1970 to 1975 CJZ was Director of the PS Department, where a new 50 MeV linac and the 800 MeV Booster were added to the PS. He assumed at the same time the charge of Director for Programme and Budget.

Thereafter he returned to Long-term Studies, were he was mostly interested in the Electron-Positron Collider (LEP), which is now replaced in the same tunnel by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

He was member of ISR Division till 1982 and of LEP Division till 1988 when he reached retirement age. During these years and a few more years during his retirement he was Chairman of Council’s Committee in charge of the reform of the CERN Pension Fund.

Even without close contacts, Kees was always appreciated by everybody as a friendly senior colleague combining an enormous cheerfulness with a very natural authority. For more than thirty years he was one of the leading personalities who formed CERN to become the laboratory of worldwide radiance it is to-day.

Günther Plass

Paul joined the Radiation Group at CERN’s Laboratory II in March 1972. He carried out tests on materials and components that were used in the construction of the SPS.

Following the commissioning of the SPS in 1975 and when the two laboratories were merged into one, Paul became a member of the Radiation Protection group. There, he had two roles: the first as a radiation protection officer in the underground areas, where access and personnel protection issues were of crucial importance; and the second testing the radioresistance of many different types of materials. Thanks to his detailed analyses and shrewd interpretation of the results, he became a recognised expert in the field – a recognition that extended far beyond the boundaries of CERN. He wrote many reports and co-authored several volumes of the CERN “yellow reports” issued as a catalogue on the radioresistance of materials and which continue to serve as reference works today.

In July 1988 Paul had a career change and joined the General and Electrical Safety group as a general safety inspector. Once again, he became an expert in two fields: those of safety inspection and applied ergonomics. He developed the latter field in collaboration with the Medical Service as ergonomics and the problems of working on VDUs increasingly became a focus of public attention. In addition, once the highly complex assemblies needed for the LEP had been received and commissioned, the issue of noise in the workplace and the environment needed to be addressed. Paul’s work in this field made a decisive contribution to reducing noise pollution.

Paul retired in December 2004. After fewer than 8 years of retirement, he has left us much too early. We will remember him as a vivacious and dynamic colleague who worked quickly, independently and efficiently. We, his former colleagues, are deeply saddened by his untimely death and would like to convey our deepest sympathy to his family and close friends.

His friends and colleagues at CERN

(see version in French)

Malcolm Dykes had studied physics and mathematics at Liverpool University. In 1966 he came to CERN, joining the operation group of the 2 metre liquid hydrogen bubble chamber. Demands on engineering skills – both conventional and shrewd – were high in this new field of track chambers. The atmosphere in the group profited largely from Malcolm’s natural ability of counselling without imposing. His many extra-professional interests and his sense of humour were the basis for excellent human relations.

After the shut-down of the 2 metre chamber in 1978, Malcolm joined the European Hybrid Spectrometer EHS. EHS incorporated the Rapid Cycling Bubble Chamber RCBC designed by Rutherford Laboratory in England for installation and operation at CERN. Malcolm was the linkman between CERN and the British team. He was also responsible for the development and handling of bubble chamber films until his retirement in 1991.

Malcolm’s extraordinary linguistic skills and his editorial talents were soon discovered. Authors appreciated the possibility of discussing arguments with him as a knowledgeable reader with broad interests. After retirement Malcolm continued to help GAC-EPA to polish up documents of any kind.

After a stroke in 2008, Malcolm spent his last three years in a medico-social centre at Ferney Voltaire, confined to a wheel chair. His wife Jill gave up their beautiful house at Echenevex and moved to a flat at Ferney to be closer to her husband.

We share her loss, and we will never forget what Malcolm has been for CERN and for us. 

His friends