High decoration for Jochen R. Schneider

During a ceremony on 6 October 2008 in Berlin on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of German reunification, Horst Köhler, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, decorated 43 deserved citizens with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. One of them was Professor Dr. Jochen R. Schneider, who received the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit. The justification reads: “The former Director of Research at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY in Hamburg, one of the leading scientists in the field of synchrotron radiation research, played an essential role in turning DESY into one of the world’s leading centres for research with photons. The use of new technologies opens up further important research perspectives. It is much to his credit that DESY, thanks to its new X-ray sources, is evolving into an internationally leading and interdisciplinary centre. A particular concern of his is the encouragement of young scientists. His membership in numerous national and international scientific commissions and boards shows how much his advice is sought after.”

From 1993 on, Jochen Schneider headed the Hamburg Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory HASYLAB; from 2000 to 2007, he was DESY director in charge of photon science. In this period, the worlwide unique free-electron laser FLASH had come into operation and the construction of the European X-ray laser facility European XFEL was initiated . Jochen Schneider is now head of the experimental facilities division at the free-electron laser for hard X-rays LCLS, which is under construction at the research centre SLAC in Stanford, California.

Source: DESY News