My whole career has centred around meeting the right people at the right time. In 1978, I was using synchrotron radiation as a Radiation Standard for my work when the machine director of BESSY I asked me to become his deputy. I knew nothing about accelerators and here I was being asked to help build one! Today, 40 years later, I think the only synchrotron design that I haven’t worked on is the one of SIRIUS in Brazil. Every time I finish one project, I always seem to meet the right person to push me in the direction of a new synchrotron to be built. In 1995 already, I proposed the lattice of the 4th generation light source which was later used for MAX IV. Today every light source that’s upgrading wants to go to the 4th Generation. That’s how I ended up at the ESRF: consulting for the EBS project. I learnt about precision machining when I did an apprenticeship as a toolmaker after finishing school, and before studying physics. That experience still helps me today. In a synchrotron, everything needs to be fitted together with extreme precision. I’m a perfectionist but I also have to look at what’s possible, technically and economically, and what isn’t. The part I most enjoy is the follow-up with the manufacturers of the building components. Often it takes several rounds of discussion before the components meet the requirements, and we are learning from each other, pulling each other forward. The biggest challenge with EBS is how to assemble all the components into the new storage ring without contortion and to within an accuracy of less than 50 µm. I’ve got the certainty that everything will run, no problem.”
