Günther Plass, former Director of Accelerators at CERN, joined the Magnets group at the Proton Synchrotron (PS) in 1956. Three years later, the machine went into service and became the most powerful accelerator in the world
"Alas! must it ever be so?
Do we stand in our own light, wherever we go,
And fight our own shadows forever?" -Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Ever since it was conjectured that the speed of light was the ultimate speed limit of the Universe, we have tried with the most powerful of our tools to push as close to it as possible.