Heavy ions at CERN: prehistory

In 1977, Workshop on the future of intermediate energy physics at CERN

The group convened by B. Povh ìunconventional ideasî points to :

Low Energy Antiprotons

Acceleration of Ions at PS energies

Cooled low energy antiprotons immediately attracted a broad interest

both from the machine and physics side.

But heavy ions at the PS remained sub-threshold until a Letter of Intent

by the GSI-LBL collaboration (27 october 1980).

This initiative triggered a longñeventually successfulñ approval process

that resulted in a new CERN program. Without it, it is doubtful whether

CERN would have entered that field.