Love in the air at CERN

As CERN celebrates its 60^th anniversary this year, a pair of Italian physicists whose lives have been intertwined with the organisation’s history will be celebrating their 59^th wedding anniversary.  Maria and Giuseppe Fidecaro married in 1955 and moved to CERN in Geneva in 1956; Maria got a CERN fellowship and Giuseppe was assigned to the Sychrocyclotron division, building the organisation’s first accelerator. Although the pair has retired, they are still a regular fixture in the cafeteria engaged in lively discussions – and are still undertaking research, but of a different kind. Giuseppe is delving into the history of physics while Maria is revisiting some of her past work to make sure she didn’t miss anything. “In the heat of the moment, with the beams on and everything, there was no time to have a broad view,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to go back and gain a deeper insight, and put our work in perspective with respect to what was going on at CERN and elsewhere.” Both agree that every moment of their 60 years at CERN was good. “Having gone through all of it for 60 years is what has been best,” Maria said. “It was great to be able to pioneer so many different experiments,” said Giuseppe, “And to work with so many interesting people.”