On 20 June, in its 125th session, the CERN Council received confirmation that the LHC and its detectors are on schedule for start-up in 2007, and that the LHC Computing Grid (LCG) project is about to reach a major milestone. CERN’s director-general, Luciano Maiani, presented a comprehensive review of the status of the LHC project, which he underlined by saying that management is more committed than ever to the current LHC schedule. Maiani said that the major difficulties with the accelerator and detectors have been resolved, and that there is now a clear path to the project’s completion. “All of the problems we encountered in 2002 have been overcome,” he said, “although there remain hurdles to overcome, there is no showstopper. We can confirm with fewer reservations than last year that the LHC will start-up in spring 2007.”
Maiani also drew attention to the LCG project, which will make an important step forward in distributed computing technology on 1 July when it deploys an operational computing Grid for the LHC. Negotiations are also underway with the European Union for the “Enabling Grids for E-science in Europe” (EGEE) project, which aims to create a Europe-wide Grid infrastructure by combining the many Grid initiatives across the continent.
The Council also heard from Robert Aymar, CERN’s director-general elect, who presented his proposal for a new organizational structure for the laboratory. His plans are based on a recommendation by the External Review Committee that he chaired in 2001 and 2002. The new structure is intended to ensure continuity and build on existing strengths at CERN, while at the same time implementing changes at the higher levels appropriate to CERN’s current objectives. The main features of the new structure are short lines of management and a restricted directorate consisting of the director-general (Aymar), a chief scientific officer, with the functions of deputy director-general, and a chief financial officer. Jos Engelen, currently director of NIKHEF, has been named as the chief scientific officer. CERN’s current divisions will be regrouped into a smaller number of departments, while functions including safety, technology transfer and public communication will be moved into the director-general’s office.
