Simon van der Meer
Simon van der Meer
Simon van der Meerwas a Dutch particle accelerator physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1984 with Carlo Rubbia for contributions to the CERN project which led to the discovery of the W and Z particles, two of the most fundamental constituents of matter...
NationalityDutch
ProfessionPhysicist
Date of Birth24 November 1925
improved increase preparing rate second since worked
Since then, I have worked with the group that commissioned and improved the ring and that is now preparing the construction of a second ring to increase the p stacking rate by an order of magnitude.
children conditions education good highly learning parents sacrifices
Under these conditions it is not astonishing that learning was highly prized; in fact, my parents made sacrifices to be able to give their children a good education.
finals examination gymnasiums
I visited the Gymnasium in The Hague and passed my final examination (in the sciences section) in 1943.
taken done firsts
After developing a primitive theory (1968) I therefore did not pursue this subject. However, the work was taken up by others and in 1974 the first experiments were done in the ISR.
feelings able fields
Nevertheless, if I have at times been able to make original contributions in the accelerator field, I cannot help feeling that to a certain extent my slightly amateur approach in physics, combined with much practical experience, was an asset.