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LEP collided electrons with positrons at energies that reached 209 GeV. It was a circular collider with a circumference of 27 kilometres built in a tunnel roughly 100 m underground and passing through Switzerland and France. LEP was used from 1989 until 2000. Around 2001 it was dismantled to make way for the [[Large Hadron Collider]], which re-used the LEP tunnel. To date, LEP is the most powerful accelerator of leptons ever built.
LEP collided electrons with positrons at energies that reached 209 GeV. It was a circular collider with a circumference of 27 kilometres built in a tunnel roughly 100 m underground and passing through Switzerland and France. LEP was used from 1989 until 2000. Around 2001 it was dismantled to make way for the [[Large Hadron Collider]], which re-used the LEP tunnel. To date, LEP is the most powerful accelerator of leptons ever built.


The LEP design, a it evolved, was presented in the so-called [[Blue book|Blue]], [[Pink book|Pink]] and [[Green book|Green books]].
== Design ==
The original feasibility study was published in 1976.<ref>Physics with very high-energy e+e− colliding beams, CERN-76-18,  [http://dx.doi.org/10.5170/CERN-1976-018 doi:10.5170/CERN-1976-018].</ref> The LEP designs, as the project evolved, were subsequently presented in the so-called [[Blue book|Blue]], [[Pink book|Pink]] and [[Green book|Green books]].


== Project leaders ==
In 1980 [[Herwig Schopper]] announced that Emilio Picasso would lead the LEP project once it was approved,<ref>66th Session of Council, 26 - 27 Jun 1980 - CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, CERN/1377/Draft, https://cds.cern.ch/record/28023/.</ref> Emilio held this post through the construction, and initial operation of LEP 1 until he left CERN in 1992.<ref>Emilio Picasso’s contagious enthusiasm for physics, ''CERN Courier'', 27 January 2015, https://cerncourier.com/a/emilio-picassos-contagious-enthusiasm-for-physics/.</ref> In 1990 Carlo Wyss became deputy to the LEP 200 project leader, Günther Plass, who was the Director for Accelerators at the time.<ref>Archives of Large Electron Positron Collider Division and Committee, LEP and LEPC, https://sis.web.cern.ch/archives/CERN_archive/guide/accelerators/LEP/isalep.</ref> Wyss was appointed LEP 200 project leader by [[Carlo Rubbia]] in January 1991, a position he held until he was replaced by Stephen Myers in April 1996.<ref name=":0">Stephen Myers - More collaboration for accelerators, ''CERN Bulletin'', No. 05-06/2009, 26 January 2009, https://cds.cern.ch/journal/CERNBulletin/2009/06/News%20Articles/1156859.
</ref><ref>A Personal History of CERN Particle Colliders (1972–2022), Stephen Myers, Highlights in High-Energy Physics, '''2025''', ''1''(1): 9. doi: [https://doi.org/10.53941/hihep.2025.100009 10.53941/hihep.2025.100009].</ref><ref>IPAC2010 Accelerator Prize article: Particle accelerators and colliders, Stephen Myers, ''Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams'' '''23''' (2020) 124802, [http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.23.124802 10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.23.124802].</ref> Myers led the project until its end in year 2000.<ref name=":0" />
==References==
{{reflist}}
For more information, see [[wikipedia:Large_Electron–Positron_Collider|Wikipedia]].
For more information, see [[wikipedia:Large_Electron–Positron_Collider|Wikipedia]].



Revision as of 04:32, 21 April 2026

The Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEP) was one of the largest particle accelerators ever constructed. It was built at CERN, a multi-national centre for research in nuclear and particle physics near Geneva, Switzerland.

LEP collided electrons with positrons at energies that reached 209 GeV. It was a circular collider with a circumference of 27 kilometres built in a tunnel roughly 100 m underground and passing through Switzerland and France. LEP was used from 1989 until 2000. Around 2001 it was dismantled to make way for the Large Hadron Collider, which re-used the LEP tunnel. To date, LEP is the most powerful accelerator of leptons ever built.

Design

The original feasibility study was published in 1976.[1] The LEP designs, as the project evolved, were subsequently presented in the so-called Blue, Pink and Green books.

Project leaders

In 1980 Herwig Schopper announced that Emilio Picasso would lead the LEP project once it was approved,[2] Emilio held this post through the construction, and initial operation of LEP 1 until he left CERN in 1992.[3] In 1990 Carlo Wyss became deputy to the LEP 200 project leader, Günther Plass, who was the Director for Accelerators at the time.[4] Wyss was appointed LEP 200 project leader by Carlo Rubbia in January 1991, a position he held until he was replaced by Stephen Myers in April 1996.[5][6][7] Myers led the project until its end in year 2000.[5]

References

  1. Physics with very high-energy e+e− colliding beams, CERN-76-18, doi:10.5170/CERN-1976-018.
  2. 66th Session of Council, 26 - 27 Jun 1980 - CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, CERN/1377/Draft, https://cds.cern.ch/record/28023/.
  3. Emilio Picasso’s contagious enthusiasm for physics, CERN Courier, 27 January 2015, https://cerncourier.com/a/emilio-picassos-contagious-enthusiasm-for-physics/.
  4. Archives of Large Electron Positron Collider Division and Committee, LEP and LEPC, https://sis.web.cern.ch/archives/CERN_archive/guide/accelerators/LEP/isalep.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Stephen Myers - More collaboration for accelerators, CERN Bulletin, No. 05-06/2009, 26 January 2009, https://cds.cern.ch/journal/CERNBulletin/2009/06/News%20Articles/1156859.
  6. A Personal History of CERN Particle Colliders (1972–2022), Stephen Myers, Highlights in High-Energy Physics, 2025, 1(1): 9. doi: 10.53941/hihep.2025.100009.
  7. IPAC2010 Accelerator Prize article: Particle accelerators and colliders, Stephen Myers, Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 23 (2020) 124802, 10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.23.124802.

For more information, see Wikipedia.