Fritz Ferger, a multi-talented engineer who had a significant impact on the technical development and management of CERN, passed away on 22 March 2025.
Born in Reutlingen, Germany, on 5 April 1933, Fritz obtained his electrical engineering degree in Stuttgart and a doctorate at the University of Grenoble. A contract with General Electric in his pocket, he visited CERN, curious about the 25 GeV Proton Synchrotron, the construction of which was receiving the finishing touches in the late 1950s. He met senior CERN staff and was offered a contract that he, impressed by the visit, accepted in early 1959.
Fritz’s first assignment was the development of a radio-frequency (RF) accelerating cavity for a planned fixed-field alternating-gradient (FFAG) accelerator. This was abandoned in early 1960 in favour of the study of a 2 × 25 GeV proton–proton collider, the Intersecting Storage Rings (ISR). As a first step, the CERN Electron Storage and Accumulation Ring (CESAR) was constructed to test high-vacuum technology and RF accumulation schemes; Fritz designed and constructed the RF system. With CESAR in operation, he moved on to the construction and tests of the high-power RF system of the ISR, a project that was approved in 1965.
After the smooth running-in of the ISR and, for a while having been responsible for the General Engineering Group, he became division leader of the ISR in 1974, a position he held until 1982. Under his leadership the ISR unfolded its full potential with proton beam currents up to 50 A and a luminosity 35 times the design value, leading CERN to acquire the confidence that colliders were the way to go. Due to his foresight, the development of new technologies was encouraged for the accelerator, including superconducting quadrupoles and pumping by cryo- and getter surfaces. Both were applied on a grand scale in LEP and are still essential for the LHC today.
Under his ISR leadership CERN acquired the confidence that colliders were the way to go
When the resources of the ISR Division were refocussed on LEP in 1983, Fritz became the leader of the Technical Inspection and Safety Commission. This absorbed the activities of the previous health and safety groups, but its main task was to scrutinise the LEP project from all technical and safety aspects. Fritz’s responsibility widened considerably when he became leader of the Technical Support Division in 1986. All of the CERN civil engineering, the tunnelling for the 27 km circumference LEP ring, its auxiliary tunnels, the concreting of the enormous caverns for the experiments and the construction of a dozen surface buildings were in full swing and brought to a successful conclusion in the following years. New buildings on the Meyrin site were added, including the attractive Building 40 for the large experimental groups, in which he took particular pride. At the same time, and under pressure to reduce expenditure, he had to manage several difficult outsourcing contracts.
When he retired in 1997, he could look back on almost 40 years dedicated to CERN; his scientific and technical competence paired with exceptional organisational and administrative talent. We shall always remember him as an exacting colleague with a wide range of interests, and as a friend, appreciated for his open and helpful attitude.
We grieve his loss and offer our sincere condolences to his widow Catherine and their daughters Sophie and Karina.
