Universities produce many particle physicists but they produce few people with the expertise to design, build and operate the big accelerators physicists need. This educational loophole, coupled with the growing realisations that technical innovations are required to produce a new generation of machines to take over where L E P will leave off, provided the motivation for setting up the CERN Accelerator School in 1983.

Initially under Kjell Johnsen and now under Phil Bryant, CAS aims to provide training in particle accelerator know-how, from introductory courses for beginners, through advanced courses, to seminars on specific topics and workshops on accelerator research and development. The School also collaborates closely with its counterpart in the US. Thus interest is being stimulated amongst younger physicists and engineers in a field where the average age once seemed to be creeping relentlessly upwards, and where new theoretical ideas ensure n o shortage of fresh challenges. 

Original article from the CERN Bulletin, May 1986.