Most wind instruments work on the principle of cavity resonators, standing waves are set into resonance. Herwig Franz Schopper was the first in Europe to study superconducting cavity resonators, which led to collaboration with CERN. He became head of the Nuclear Physics Division in 1970 and director general in 1981.
A native of the Czech Republic, he studied physics at the University of Hamburg. He then served as director of the Institute for Nuclear Physics at the University of Mainz, worked at Cornell University, in Karlsruhe, became involved with the “Sesame” synchrotron facility in Jordan, built on the model of CERN, and worked at the Institute for Nuclear Research, JINR, in Dubna.
Schopper has received international awards, including the Albert Einstein Gold Medal from UNESCO and the Tate Medal from the American Institute of Physics. He has held honorary doctorates from the Universities of Erlangen, London, the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research near Moscow, the Cyprus Institute in Nicosia, and many others.