List of directors general of CERN

CERN directors general typically serve 5 year terms beginning on January 1.

Director-General of CERN
Directeur général or Directrice générale
Incumbent Fabiola Gianotti since 1 January 2016
Abbreviation	DG
Reports to	CERN Council
Appointer	CERN Council
Term length	5 years typical length
Precursor	Secretary-General
Formation	October 1954
First holder	Felix Bloch

List

In office	Directors General	Country
1952–1954	Edoardo Amaldi (Secretary-General)[1]	Italy
1954–1955	Felix Bloch[2]	Switzerland
1955–1960	Cornelis Bakker	Netherlands
1960–1961	John Adams (acting director)	United Kingdom
1961–1965	Victor Frederick Weisskopf	United States
1966–1970	Bernard Gregory	France
1971–1975	Willibald Jentschke (co-directors)	Austria
	John Adams (co-directors)	United Kingdom
1976–1980	Léon Van Hove (co-directors)[3]	Belgium
	John Adams (co-directors)	United Kingdom
1981–1988	Herwig Schopper[4]	Germany
1989–1993	Carlo Rubbia	Italy
1994–1998	Christopher Llewellyn Smith	United Kingdom
1999–2003	Luciano Maiani	San Marino
2004–2008	Robert Aymar	France
2009–2015	Rolf-Dieter Heuer	Germany
2016–2020	Fabiola Gianotti	Italy
2021–2025	Fabiola Gianotti	Italy
2026–2031	Mark Thomson	United Kingdom

References

1. Rubbia, Carlo (1991). "Edoardo Amaldi: scientific statesman". CERN Reports. 91–09. doi:10.5170/CERN-1991-009.
2. Béné, Georges J.; Enz, Charles P.; Lenk, R. (1984). Felix Bloch, 1905-1983 : 1st Director General of CERN (1954-55). CERN. doi:10.17181/CERN.PYMN.ZUHF.
3. Rubbia, Carlo; Soergel, Volker; Jacob, Maurice René Michel (1990). Leon Van Hove, 1924–1990. Geneva: CERN. doi:10.17181/CERN.Z7V2.R44Z.
4. Schopper, Herwig; Gillies, James (2024), "Director-General of CERN", Herwig Schopper, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 119–162, doi:10.1007/978-3-031-51042-7_7, ISBN 978-3-031-51041-0