17 Facts About Herwig Schopper

Herwig Franz Schopper was born on 28 February 1924 and is a German experimental physicist.

Herwig Schopper was the director general of CERN from 1981 to 1988.

Herwig Schopper obtained his diploma and doctorate from the University of Hamburg, studying under Wilhelm Lenz and Rudolf Fleischmann.

Herwig Schopper measured the circular polarization of gamma rays following a beta decay, thought unfeasible by Lee and Yang, and showed in the same experiment that the helicities of neutrino and antineutrino are opposite.

From 1958 to 1961, Herwig Schopper was an associate professor at the University of Mainz where he established the Institute for Experimental Nuclear Physics.

Herwig Schopper was appointed professor at the University of Karlsruhe in 1961 and director of the newly established Institutes for Experimental Nuclear Physics of TH Karlsruhe and the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre.

Herwig Schopper created a group at CERN to investigate neutron scattering at high energies at the Proton Synchrotron and Intersecting Storage Rings.

In 1973 Herwig Schopper became professor at the University of Hamburg and the chairman of the directorate of DESY, serving until end of 1980.

Herwig Schopper proposed and completed the construction of the electron-positron collider PETRA which led to the discovery and study of the gluon.

From 1977 to 1979, Herwig Schopper was chairman of the Association of the German Large Research Centres and member of various advisory bodies of the Federal Ministry of Research, the Deutsche Forschungs Gemeinschaft and the Max Planck Society.

Herwig Schopper was obliged to introduce a new way of international collaboration for the four LEP experiments since CERN could not provide funds for them.

Herwig Schopper contributed to the globalisation of research at CERN and was responsible for the return of Spain and Portugal in the CERN's member states.

Herwig Schopper is professor emeritus at the University of Hamburg since 1989.

Herwig Schopper is a founding member of The Cyprus Institute at Nicosia, Cyprus, and since 2000 Member of the board of trustees and was chairman of the Scientific Council and member of the executive committee of the board of trustees of the Cyprus Institute.

Herwig Schopper writes articles about research policy, science and religion and science and society.

Herwig Schopper received honorary doctoral degrees from: University of Erlangen, Moscow State University, University of Geneva, University of London, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Institute for High Energy Physics, The Cyprus Institute and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

Herwig Schopper wrote more than 200 original publications in optics, nuclear physics, elementary particle physics and accelerator technology.