We were deeply saddened to learn that Prof. Dr. Herwig Schopper has passed away at the age of 101. Herwig Schopper was the founding director of our institute at the end of the 1950s, laying the foundations for more than 70 years of successful experimental work with electron accelerators in Mainz.

The last time he was here at the Institute was on the occasion of the symposium “50 Years of Experiments with Accelerators”, when he was already over 90 years old. His stories about the founding phase were extremely fascinating for subsequent generations and testified equally to his qualities as a brilliant physicist and coordinator.