Author: Rüdiger Voss

Herwig Schopper, EPS President from 1995 to 1997, celebrated his 100^th birthday on 28 February

Herwig Schopper was born in Lanškroun (Landskron), in a German-speaking region of what is now the Czech Republic. Shortly after the end of World War II, he started studying physics at the University of Hamburg where he received his PhD in 1951. He soon embarked on a prestigious academic career which took him to professorships in Mainz, Karlsruhe, and later in Hamburg, making landmark contributions to experimental nuclear physics, particle physics, and accelerator technology. During these years, he already demonstrated his talents as a science administrator: in 1973, he was appointed chairman of the DESY board of directors; in 1981 he began an eight-years term as Director-General of CERN, notably overseeing the construction of the large electron-positron collider LEP in the same 27 km tunnel which today houses the Large Hadron Collider.

Following his term of office at CERN, Herwig started a new career as science diplomat that keeps him active to this day. From 1992-94, he served as president of the German Physical Society, and from 1995-97 he was president of the EPS. In subsequent years, he held several important positions at UNESCO, including chairing the advisory committee for the International Basic Science Programme (2003-2009). Guided by his strong personal vision of “science for peace”, he embarked on his most ambitious science diplomacy project: the SESAME light source in the middle east which was inaugurated in Jordan in 2017.

On 1 March, Herwig's unique personality and countless achievements were celebrated at CERN with a festive symposium, “A century in physics”, by a prestigious line-up of speakers who had witnessed different stages of his life and career, including Nobel Prize Winner Samuel Ting and Herwig's children Doris and Andreas. In a short message, EPS President-elect Mairi Sakellariadou recalled Herwig Schopper’s merits as the president who steered our society with his characteristic quiet and unassuming, but highly effective approach to management through the tumultuous period when the seat and the secretariat were moved from Geneva to Mulhouse, saving the EPS from a severe political and financial crisis. The EPS is immensely grateful to its former president for his leadership and for his lifelong devotion to science and peace: congratulations Herwig on your uncountable achievements, and good luck and good health for many more years to come!

A more comprehensive appraisal of Herwig Schopper’s life and work will appear in a forthcoming issue of Europhysics News (55/2).

Three generations of CERN Directors-General: Herwig Schopper and Fabiola Gianotti cutting the birthday cake, critically watched by Rolf Heuer - image credit: Rüdiger Voss

He shares his vision for EPS and reflections on opportunities for the EPS Young Minds initiative on outreach and education as well as the role of physics in industry and society.