15 



vas found right away: The decay process of the "pion" was cleared up and it was 

 shown that the pion decays preponderately into "muons" and not electrons. 



Unfortunately the construction period ended with the tragic death of the di- 

 rector, Professor C. Bakker^in an airplane accident. 



III. The Research and Expansion Period. 



I was asked to be the Director General of CERN in the fall of 1960. I accepted 

 the job and stayed until the end of 1965. I was and am an American citizen. The 

 choice fell on me probably because of my European origin, and my acquaintance 

 both with the American and the European way to do scientific research. I was 

 attracted not only by the subject of research, but also by the idea of an international 

 scientific laboraton,-, the first of its kind, symbolizing a united Europe. 



The organization faced several difficulties: The European physics community 

 Lad no experience in running large enterprises. There was not much "Big Science" 

 in Europe at that time. Too little preparation for experiment was made during 

 the construction period. Somehow new forms of research organization had to be 

 found, in order to coordinate work done by the different nations, and to foster 

 active participation of the national university laboratories with CERN. How many 

 scientists should be employees of the Lab and how many working as guests of the 

 Lab for periods of time? Last but not least, the new fledgling institution needed a 

 spirit of enthusiasm, not only for its scientific aims but also for its pioneering role 

 as a symbol of European unity. 



Obviously one could not have expected that CERN would immediately be at 

 par or more productive than corresponding institutions in the U.S. with a much 



