Studies in Cern History

CHS-14 July 1985 STUDIES IN CERN HISTORY From the provisional organization to the permanent CERN May 1952- September 1954 I. A survey of developments John Krige*> GENEVA 1985 *) Supported by a grant from the JOINT ESRC/SERC COMMITTEE, United Kingdom. The Study of CERN History is a project financed by Institutions in several CERN Member Countries. This report presents preliminary findings, and is intended for incorporation into a more comprehensive study of CERN's history. It is distributed primarily to historians and scientists to provoke discussion, and no part of it should be cited or reproduced without written permission from the Team Leader. Comments are welcome and should be sent to: Study Team for CERN History c/oCERN CH-1211 GENEVE 23 Switzerland © Copyright Study Team for CERN History, Geneva 1985 CERN-Service d'information scientifique - 300- juillet 1985 From the provisional organization to the permanent CERN May 1952 - September 1954 I. A survey of developments Methodological preface Introduction I. Establishing the study groups and the secretariat II. Fixing the energies of the accelerators III. The discovery of the strong-focusing principle IV. The choice of a site for the new labortory V. Britain takes the plunge VI. Consolidating the scientific work (a) The accelerator groups (b) The Theory group (d) Other forms of co-operation VII. The convention and its signature VIII. The new mood in CERN IX. Putting down roots in Geneva X. The nomination of the first Director-General XI. The philosophy of the organization XII. The ratification of the convention XIII. Conclusion XIV. Appendices I. List of CERN/GEN/ ... documents, including details of provisional Council meetings II. Scale of percentage contributions to the permanent organization applicable during the period to 31 December 1956 III. Rates of exchange used for accounting purposes (a) as from 1 December 1952 and (b) as from 2 January 1954 IV. Dates of deposit of instruments of ratification of the convention in the UNESCO archives V. Official delegates to the nine Council sessions XV. Notes and references 1 Methodological preface This is the first of two reports dealing with the life of the so called provisional CERN. Officially this phase in the organization's history began early in May 1952. It lasted until the end of September 1954, when the convention establishing the permanent CERN entered into force. The period we are studying was something of a watershed in CERN's development, the period in which we move from planning and discussion to implementation and construction. In presenting its history, and that of the permanent organization, our aproach will accordingly differ somewhat from that followed in our studies of the pre-history of CERN. 1 In the earlier phase the main initiative was in the hands of perhaps thirty people who were in frequent contact with one another, and who shared the desire to launch a European research facility. Our history was largely a history of their activities, of the conscious motives that informed them and of the deeper forces which, we thought, may have shaped them. It focused on individuals, it was detailed, and it was comprehensive, at least in its treatment of the cutting-edge of developments. With the setting up of the Council of Representatives in May 1952, however, events unfolded with a rather different logic. The several distinct activities involved in launching a new research centre became both progressively institutionalized and relatively autonomous of one another. With that the main stream of events divided into a number of distinct tributaries, each advancing at its own distinctive pace, and leaving its own distinctive trace on the landscape of the organization. The 'histories' of some events, like the choice of the site for the laboratory, are turgid and shortlived. Others, like the construction of the accelerators, unfold more slowly, take much longer, and transcend the upper limit of the time period we are studying. In response to these complexities we need to adopt a more classical approach, which recognizes that our object of investigation is a totality having many levels, articulated one with the other, yet each moving with its peculiar rhythm determined by its own specific variables. 2 In the light of the above we have decided that our history from henceforth should be of two kinds, one, predominately narrative and chronological, providing an overall survey of the development of the organization over time, the other, more analytic, and providing in-depth discussions of some of the events which were crucial to its evolution. This distinction provides the rationale for separating this report, which gives a narrative account of the provisional CERN, from its companion (CHS-16), which complements it with case-studies of some key developments in this period. It also underpins our history of the permanent organization, which will be 'the subject of later work. Introduction on the 15 February 1952 delegates from eleven countries signed an 'Agreement constituting a Council of representatives of European states for planning an international laboratory and organizing other forms of co operation in nuclear research'. Seven of the states signed an annex in which they undertook to make contributions in money (totalling some US$172,000, about 0.75 million Swiss francs) or in kind to the Council's work. With the deposit of its instrument of ratification by Sweden on 2 May 1952, the conditions required for the agreement to enter into force were satisfied. With that, the 'planning' stage of the 'provisional' CERN commenced. It was to last until the convention establishing the permanent organization was signed in Paris some fourteen months later, on 1 July 1953. It took another fifteen months for this convention to be ratified. When it was, on 29 September 1954, the so-called interim phase of CERN's development came to an end. This report is divided into a number of sections which deal suc cessively with various highlights in the life of the provisional CERN. Details are provided in the table of contents. Our account begins at the first session of the new Council, which opened on the 5 May 1952 in Paris under the chairmanship of the noted Swiss physicist, Paul Scherrer. 2 3 I. Establishing the study groups and the secretariat The main business of the first Council was to appoint the heads of the four study groups and a secretary general who were to carry out its programme, and to allocate funds to each. Edoardo Amaldi was appointed secretary to the Council. Cornelis Bakker and Odd Dahl were put in charge of the groups to study the accelerators, respectively labelled the Synchro cyclotron (SC) group and the Cosmotron group. Theoretical studies, and arrangements for using the cyclotrons in Liverpool and Uppsala, were Niels Bohr's responsibility, while Lew Kowarski was appointed head of the Laboratory group. Its aim was to plan the infrastuctural context into which the accelerators would be embedded. At the second session of the Council it was decided that the secretary and the group directors would be collectively known as the Executive group. 3 It was generally understood, that at least initially, the group leaders would remain at their home stations Amaldi in Rome, Bakker in Amsterdam, Bohr in Copenhagen, Dahl in Bergen, and Kowarski in Paris. Contact between them was maintained by regular meetings of the Executive group, and by weekly reports in which Amaldi informed his colleagues of recent activities at the secretariat. Each group was relatively autonomous - it had its own bank account and directors had considerable control over how the funds in 'their' account were spent, for example. As the scientific work picked up momentum there was further decen tralization of the organization, notably within the accelerator groups themselves. 4 Bakker and Dahl established a division of labour and distributed tasks among institutes all over Europe. By the and of 1952 there were subsections of both groups working in Harwell and in laboratories in Paris. The radio-frequency system for the SC was being developed at Philips in Eindhoven, that for the bigger machine was being studied at Walther Bothe's institute in Heidelberg. Bakker also had a magnet group in Sweden and some theoretical work was being done for Dahl in Copenhagen. This dispersal of the groups obviously restricted the possibilities for communication between their members. On the other hand, 4 there was the notable advantage that work on the design of the accelerators could proceed without any of the personnel involved having to move from their home stations. Apart from providing indirect financial support to the provisional organization, this arrangement enabled the subgroups to draw on the expertise and technical resources available in their institutes for the European laboratory project. II. Fixing the energies of the accelerators Another task facing the new organization was to settle the design energies of the two accelerators. Officially this was done at the second Council session held from 20-21 June 1952 in Copenhagen. The meeting took place immediately after an international conference of theoretical and experimental physicists organized by Bohr, and held at his Institute for Theoretical Physics from 3-17 June. At its first session the Council agreed to sponsor and to subsidize this conference, stipulating that part of it 'be devoted to a survey of the present stage of knowledge regarding very high energy particles and, in particular, the expe rimental equipment necessary for improving such knowledge'. Werner Heisenberg reported on the conference at the second Council session. Having surveyed the relative merits of various electron and proton accelerators in terms of energy, beam intensity, and cost/GeV, Heisenberg suggested that Dahl's group make a feasibility study of a powerful proton synchrotron.

Load more