physics

Rolf-Dieter Heuer

Rolf-Dieter Heuer is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Rolf-Dieter Heuer rather than just read about it. In short: Rolf-Dieter Heuer (German: [ʁɔlf ˈdiːtɐ ˈhɔʏɐ]; born 24 May 1948) is a German particle physicist. From 2009 to 2015 he was Director General of CERN and from 5 April 2016 to 9 April 2018 President of the German Physical Society (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft).

Key takeaways

Rolf-Dieter Heuer belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Rolf-Dieter Heuer to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Rolf-Dieter Heuer from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Rolf-Dieter Heuer (German: [ʁɔlf ˈdiːtɐ ˈhɔʏɐ]; born 24 May 1948) is a German particle physicist. From 2009 to 2015 he was Director General of CERN and from 5 April 2016 to 9 April 2018 President of the German Physical Society (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft). Since 2015 he has been Chair of the European Commission's Group of Chief Scientific Advisors, and since May 2017 he has been President of the SESAME Council.

Biography Heuer studied physics at the University of Stuttgart. He then obtained his PhD 1977 at the University of Heidelberg under Joachim Heintze for his study of neutral decay modes of the Ψ(3686). His post-doc studies include the JADE experiment at the electron-positron storage ring PETRA at DESY, and from 1984, at the OPAL experiment at CERN, where he also became spokesperson of the OPAL collaboration for many years. Having been offered a full professorship for experimental physics at the University of Hamburg, Heuer returned to DESY in 1998. In 2004, he was appointed DESY's Research Director. In December 2007, the CERN research council announced that Heuer would become CERN's Director General starting 1 January 2009, succeeding Robert Aymar. In 2011 Heuer gave a talk The High Energy Frontier Past, Present and Future at the international symposium on subnuclear physics held in Vatican City. Since November 2015, Heuer has been a member of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors set up by the European Commission. In 2016 he became President of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, and in May 2017 the President of the SESAME Council. In 2022, Heuer was appointed a member of the African Synchrotron Initiative Think Tank with a view to set up a Pan-African project for the African Light Source.

Awards On 15 June 2011, Heuer was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Victoria. On 19 July 2011, Heuer was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Liverpool. In his speech to the graduands he spoke of the need to bring science into mainstream culture. On 16 December 2011, Heuer was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Birmingham. On 13 June 2012, Heuer was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Glasgow. On 12 November 2012, he was awarded an Edison Volta Prize. On 5 December 2013, he was awarded the UNESCO Niels Bohr Medal. In May 2015, he was awarded a Grand Cross 1st class of the German Order of Merit. In September 2015, Heuer was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Belgrade. On 22 November 2016, Heuer was appointed a Knight of the Legion of Honour.

References

Further reading "Professor Dr. Rolf-Dieter Heuer Appointed as New Research Director", DESY Press Release, Hamburg, 4 October 2004 "Rolf-Dieter Heuer to be New CERN Director General[link removed]", DESY Press Releases, Hamburg, 14 December 2007 "UNESCO and CERN: like hooked atoms; Jasmina Sopova meets Rolf-Dieter Heuer", in "Chemistry and life", The UNESCO Courier, January–March, 2011, pp. 48–50.

External links Rolf-Dieter Heuer on INSPIRE-HEP

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rolf-Dieter Heuer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rolf-Dieter Heuer claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Rolf-Dieter Heuer before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Rolf-Dieter Heuer ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Rolf-Dieter Heuer

In research: Rolf-Dieter Heuer appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Rolf-Dieter Heuer in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Rolf-Dieter Heuer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1948 births, 20th-century German physicists, 21st-century German physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rolf-Dieter Heuer outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Rolf-Dieter Heuer” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Rolf-Dieter Heuer in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Rolf-Dieter Heuer means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Rolf-Dieter Heuer out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rolf-Dieter Heuer in simple terms?

Why does Rolf-Dieter Heuer matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Rolf-Dieter Heuer?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Rolf-Dieter Heuer.