It's not everyone that gets to preside over the possibility of genuinely epochal discoveries.
That makes Rolf-Dieter Heuer one of the lucky ones. The German physicist was appointed Friday to be the new director general of CERN, the European particle physics facility in Switzerland that is building the Large Hadron Collider, which – when it finally begins running – will be the most powerful particle accelerator in the world.
Heuer will take office beginning January 1, 2009, to serve a five year term that will include the early years of the LHC's operation (assuming it starts next summer, as now planned). Physicists hope to discover long-theoretical particles, perhaps find experimental evidence for speculative theories including string theory, or even witness phenomena that force more substantial rethinking of current theories.
The new administrator comes from at Germany’s DESY laboratory in
Hamburg, where he serves as research director for particle and astroparticle physics. He calls his new gig "probably the best job in physics research today." And indeed, his may certainly be one of the most exciting offices in the field over the next few years.
Council appoints CERN’s next Director General [CERN press release]
(Image: Rolf-Dieter Heuer. Credit: CERN)
