GAC – EPA
Le site des retraités du CERN et de l’ESO
The CERN and ESO pensioners site
Dear Members,
I am pleased to invite you to the traditional GAC-EPA end-of-year drink that will take place
Thursday, December 4, 2025 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
on the mezzanine adjacent to CERN’s main auditorium (building 500/1-001).
In the hope that you will be many to attend, please accept our sincerest regards,
Catherine Laverrière, President
Dear GAC-EPA Members,
The ‘Groupement des Anciens du CERN et de l’ESO’ cannot remain insensitive to the conflict and humanitarian situation in the Middle East.
Like many around the world, the GAC-EPA is observing with growing concern the humanitarian consequences of this conflict, with millions of civilians, the majority of whom are children, deprived of water, healthcare and food and exposed to extreme violence.
Unable to remain silent in the light of these conditions, the Staff Association sent a letter to the Director-General and the President of the Council, which was published in Echo 459 on 2 October 2025 (https://staff-association.web.cern.ch/sites/default/files/Echo/2025/459.pdf).
Our Group naturally supports and endorses the Association’s approach and emphasises in particular CERN’s primary objective, which is science in the service of peace and humanity.
For its part, the GAC-EPA recalls that, in its resolution CERN/3626 of 8 March 2022, the CERN Council stated that ‘the aggression of one country by another is contrary to the values that the Organisation defends’. We believe it is legitimate to apply this same requirement for consistency to any situation involving flagrant violations of international humanitarian law.
Yours sincerely,
Catherine Laverrière, Chair of the GAC-EPA
Dear Colleagues,
As announced in the last Bulletin, a new CERN Community Support Centre (CCSC) branch will open in the Main Building on Wednesday 1 October.
Set in the former Travel agency’s premises next to UBS desk, this new, modern and functional facility will offer the following services to any member of the CERN community holding an access card:
The Service Desk, the IT-SOS and Telecom services and the Uniqa desk have already moved into these new premises.
Find out more about activities for seniors link
The Director-General has just announced the sad passing of Herwig Schopper, Director-General of the Organisation from January 1981 to December 1988.
We, the retirees who knew and perhaps worked with Herwig Schopper, echo the tributes paid by the Organisation and the scientific community and express our sincere condolences to his family.
The full text of the Director-General’s message is below:
Dear colleagues,
It was with great sadness that we learned that Herwig Schopper passed away yesterday at the age of 101. He was Director-General of CERN from January 1981 to December 1988.
Herwig Schopper played a central role in shaping CERN into the prestigious laboratory that it is today. Involved in CERN’s research since the 1960s, he held several key decision-making roles from the 1970s onwards, including Chair of the ISR Committee from 1973 to 1976 and member of the Scientific Policy Committee from 1978 to 1980.
During his term as Director-General, his scientific vision and diplomatic skills played an essential role in securing the approval of the Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEP) project, and then in successfully leading the construction of this accelerator, the largest ever built. He contributed to CERN’s global expansion and was one of the architects of the international cooperation model for the LEP experiments, which paved the way for today’s large experimental collaborations. His mandate was also marked by the discovery of the W and Z bosons by the UA1 and UA2 experiments at the SPS proton-antiproton collider in 1983, which was recognised by the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meer the following year.
In the years that followed, Herwig Schopper took on major responsibilities, serving on the scientific councils of several laboratories and presiding over the German Physical Society and later the European Physical Society. One of his greatest achievements was SESAME, the international centre for Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East, of which he was a co-founder and the first President of the Council.
We have lost a brilliant scientist and one of the greatest contributors to CERN and to our field, who really embodied the core values of our Laboratory. We have also lost a cherished friend who was admired for his insight, his dedication and his warmth. CERN was at the heart of his life and, until his very last moments, he cared deeply about the Laboratory.
On a more personal note, Herwig was a true source of inspiration for me. Throughout my two mandates as CERN Director-General, he provided me with his strong, unwavering support, sharing his wisdom, advice, vision and extensive experience, for which I will always be deeply grateful.
He will forever remain in our memories.
Obituaries will be published in the CERN Bulletin and the CERN Courier shortly.
Kind regards,
Fabiola Gianotti
The funeral will take place at 2.00 p.m. on Wednesday, 27 August, in Hamburg, Germany:
Friedhofskapelle – Rupertistraße 37 – 22609 Nienstedten, Hamburg
The recording of the Staff Association seminar of June 24th on the Pension Fund can be found at https://cds.cern.ch/record/2936600
The slides are also available following this link.
Find out more about activities for seniors link
The Spring 2025 Bulletin (#68) has just been published. You can view it on your screen by following this link .
Those who have chosen the communication option “paper” or “both” should receive the printed version in their mailbox in the next few days.
Happy reading!
The recording of the 1st April 1 SA seminar on the CHIS is available at this address: https://cds.cern.ch/record/2929072
See also the Proton 2024 on the Sustainability of social protection: https://staff-association.web.cern.ch/sites/default/files/Proton-Special-2024-Vers-la-perennite-de-la-protection-sociale.pdf
The recording of the GAC-EPA AGM of 1 April 2025 is available: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1516196/