  John Adams acquired an unrivalled reputation for his leading part in
designing and constructing the Proton Synchrotron (PS) in CERN's early days. In
1968, and after several years heading a fusion laboratory in the UK, he came
back to Geneva to pilot the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) project to approval
and then to direct its construction. By the time of his early death in 1984 he
had built the two flagship proton accelerators at CERN and, during the second
of his terms as Director-General, he laid the groundwork for the
proton-antiproton collider which led to the discovery of the intermediate
vector boson. How did someone without any formal academic qualification achieve
this? What was the magic behind his leadership? The speaker, who worked many
years alongside him, will discuss these questions and speculate on how Sir John
Adams might have viewed today's CERN.
