Skip to main content

The DESY Golden Jubilee in Hamburg: Lessons from the Past

Abstract

I sketch the early history of the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron in Hamburg, Germany, and establish links to some current issues of science policy in Europe.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Notes

  1. Several American national laboratories continue to be operated today by a university or a consortium of universities under contract to the U.S. Department of Energy.

References

  1. Claus Habfast, Großforschung mit kleinen Teilchen: Das Deutsche Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY 1956-1970 (Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong: Springer-Verlag, 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Armin Hermann, John Krige, Ulrike Mersits, and Dominique Pestre, History of CERN. Vol 1. Launching the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Amsterdam, Lausanne, Oxford, Shannon, New York, Tokyo: North Holland, 1990), pp. 18–21.

  3. John S. Rigden, Rabi: Scientist and Citizen. With a New Preface (Cambridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 2000), pp. 189–190.

  4. Paul Söding, former DESY Director of Research, private communication, July 24 and September 18, 2009.

  5. Armin Hermann, John Krige, Ulrike Mersits, and Dominique Pestre, History of CERN. Vol 2. Building and Running the Laboratory, 1954-1965 (Amsterdam, Lausanne, Oxford, Shannon, New York, Tokyo: North Holland, 1990), pp. 444-489.

  6. Website < http://www.cfel.de/>. 

  7. Sally Goodman, “Europe makes way into structural biology,” Nature Biotechnology 22, No. 7 (July 2004), 793; DOI:10.1038/nbt0704-793.

  8. “Facilitating the future,” Nature 456 (18/25 December 2008), 837-838; DOI:10.1038/456837b.

  9. William G. Stirling, former ESRF Director General, private communication, August 25, 2009.

  10. “The big picture,” Nature 450 (29 November 2007), 586; DOI:10.1038/450586a.

  11. Paul Söding, former DESY Director of Research, private communication, July 24, 2009.

  12. William G. Stirling, former ESRF Director General, private communication, August 25, 2009.

Download references

Acknowledgments

I thank John S. Rigden, Paul Söding, William G. Stirling, and Albrecht Wagner for their critical and informative comments on a draft of my paper, and Roger H. Stuewer for his editorial work on it.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claus Habfast.

Additional information

Claus Habfast is a physicist and communicator of European science. In 1987–1888 he worked at DESY, researching the early history of the laboratory.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Habfast, C. The DESY Golden Jubilee in Hamburg: Lessons from the Past. Phys. Perspect. 12, 219–230 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-010-0020-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-010-0020-y

Keywords

  • Willibald Jentschke
  • Werner Heisenberg
  • Samuel C. C. Ting
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)
  • CERN
  • accelerators
  • particle physics
  • photon science
  • science policy
  • history of physics