Herwig Schopper obituary

Director general of Cern in the 1980s who went on to establish the Sesame laboratory in Jordan

The German physicist Herwig Schopper, who has died aged 101, was director general of Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, from 1981 to 1988, overseeing the laboratory's first Nobel prize-winning discovery and paving the way to another. It was thanks to Herwig's tenacity that the laboratory laid the foundations - literally - for what would become the Large Hadron Collider.

On his retirement in 1989, Herwig embarked on a second career, applying his experience of international science to the field of diplomacy. Working closely with Unesco, he played a key role in establishing the Sesame laboratory in Jordan: a new Cern to sow seeds of peace in a troubled region.