Herwig Schopper: 1924-2025

“We have lost a giant,” says Beate Heinemann, Chair of the DESY Board of Directors. "With his vision of science without borders in order to unravel the mysteries of the world, Herwig shaped the physics landscape in Europe and Germany like no other. He also paved the way for DESY to become the international research center it is today. We are eternally grateful for the many projects and accelerators whose approval and construction he achieved. All our sympathy goes out to his family."

Herwig Schopper was born in Landskron in Czechoslovakia in 1924 and came to Hamburg after the Second World War, where he studied physics. After graduating, he completed his doctorate in the Hanseatic city, where he also met his wife. He continued his scientific career at various research institutions, for example in Stockholm (as a postdoc of Lise Meitner), Cambridge, Erlangen and Karlsruhe, before returning to Hamburg in 1973 to succeed Wolfgang Paul at DESY.

From 1973 to 1980, he was Chairman of the DESY Board of Directors. During his term of office, he marked such important milestones as the commissioning of the DORIS accelerator and the construction and commissioning of the PETRA ring. He thus paved the way for the discovery of the gluon at PETRA in 1979 and the observation of the mixing of B mesons with their antiparticles at the ARGUS detector in 1987. Schopper also led the establishment of HASYLAB, the beginning of photon science at DESY, and prepared the center for the HERA accelerator. “Thanks to Herwig, DESY has developed from a national to an international laboratory of world renown,” said Albrecht Wagner, Chairman of the DESY Directorate from 1999 to 2009, on Schopper's 100th birthday. “His scientific and administrative foresight, coupled with his optimism, creativity and often a large portion of boldness, is enviable.”

After his time at DESY, he became Director-General at CERN from 1981 to 1988, once again demonstrating his foresight and diplomatic skills. For example, it was thanks to him that the ring of the LEP particle accelerator was built larger than actually necessary—because in his mind, Schopper was already planning for its successor, the currently running Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which would require a bigger circumference. Administrative and organisational innovations, such as the complex participation and funding models for large-scale research projects still in place today, were also introduced under his leadership.

After his term as CERN Director General, Herwig Schopper served on the scientific advisory boards of several laboratories, was Chairman of the German Physical Society and later of the European Physical Society. One of his greatest achievements was SESAME, a synchrotron radiation source and internatinal laboratory in the Middle East, of which he was co-founder and first Council President. He was also a member of UNESCO's Physics Action Council and headed the working groups on large-scale research facilities ROSTE.

A major international symposium was held on his 100th birthday in 2024. After being lauded by the great and powerful of the world of physics, Schopper got up and a gave a speech himself – spontaneously without a script or notes, but as usual full of wit, thoughtfulness and insight. He followed scientific developments with a razor-sharp mind until the end, published his memoirs and, after moving to Hamburg at the end of 2024, was a frequent guest at DESY, always a good conversation and discussion partner and keenly interested in current developments on campus. He attended the SESAME Council meeting at the end of June 2025 and was a guest of honor at the inauguration of Beate Heinemann in spring.

DESY will make sure that his physics legacy lives on.