# Bernard Gregory

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{{Short description|French physicist (1919–1977)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Bernard Gregory
| image              = Professor Bernard Gregory at CERN.jpg
| alt                = Bernard Gregory, CERN
| caption            = Gregory in 1966
| occupation         = French physicist and former [CERN Director-General](/source/List_of_Directors_General_of_CERN)
| birth_date         = {{birth date|df=yes|1919|1|19}}
| death_date         = {{death date and age|df=yes|1977|12|24|1919|1|19}}
| birth_place        = [Bergerac](/source/Bergerac%2C_Dordogne), [France](/source/France)
| death_place        = [Élancourt](/source/%C3%89lancourt), [France](/source/France)
}}
'''Bernard Paul Gregory'''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bernard Paul Gregory {{!}} CERN |url=https://home.web.cern.ch/about/who-we-are/our-people/biographies/bernard-paul-gregory |access-date=2026-02-06 |website=home.web.cern.ch}}</ref> (19 January 1919 – 24 December 1977)<ref name="CVBG">{{Cite journal|url=http://www.annales.org/archives/x/gregory.html |title=Biographie de Bernard Grégory |journal=La Jaune et la Rouge: Revue des anciens élèves de l'École polytechnique (X) |date=May 1978 |accessdate=2 September 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150629175359/http://www.annales.org/archives/x/gregory.html |archivedate=June 29, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Tribute to Professor Gregory|journal=CERN Courier|date=December 1970|volume=10|issue=12|page=378|url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1729077}}</ref><ref name="obituary">{{cite journal|title=People and things: Bernard Gregory|journal=CERN Courier|date=February 1978|volume=18|issue=1–2|page=27|url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1730269}}</ref> was a prominent French [physicist](/source/physicist) and director-general of [CERN](/source/CERN).<ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://cds.cern.ch/record/133648|title = The 1979 Bernard Gregory lectures|accessdate = 1 September 2015|journal = CERN Report 80-03|publisher = CERN|year = 1980|series = CERN Yellow Reports: Monographs}}</ref>

During [World War II](/source/World_War_II), Gregory was a [prisoner of war](/source/prisoner_of_war) in a German [camp for military officers](/source/Oflag).<ref name = CVBG /> After the war he graduated from the [École Polytechnique](/source/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique) and [École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris](/source/%C3%89cole_Nationale_Sup%C3%A9rieure_des_Mines_de_Paris), then went to the [United States](/source/United_States) to study [fundamental particle](/source/fundamental_particle) interactions in high-energy [cosmic rays](/source/cosmic_rays).

After earning his [Ph.D.](/source/Ph.D.) in 1950 at [MIT](/source/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology), under the supervision of Professor [Bruno Rossi](/source/Bruno_Rossi),<ref name=Gregory_thesis>{{cite journal|title=Bernard Gregory: Directorate Member for Research|journal=CERN Courier|date=March 1964|volume=4|issue=3|page=28|url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1728658}}</ref> Gregory returned to France. He became known in the high energy physics world in the 1950s when he worked as a researcher, with the title of deputy director, under Professor [Leprince- Ringuet](/source/Louis_Leprince-Ringuet) at the [École Polytechnique](/source/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique).<ref name=GregoryHommage>{{cite book |last=Fleury |first=P |date=1978 |title=Hommage a Bernard P. Gregory: commemoration, 23 mai 1978|location=Palaiseau |publisher=École Polytech. |page=5 |isbn=2-7302-0008-8}}</ref><ref name=BullGreg>{{cite journal|title=Bernard Gregory|journal=CERN Bulletin|date=9 January 1978|issue=2/78|page=1|url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1718200/files/02-1978-p001.pdf}}</ref> At the [École Polytechnique](/source/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique) he worked with a number of physicists including {{ill|Charles Peyrou|de|Charles Peyrou}}, [Jean Crussard](/source/Jean_Crussard) (1911-1986), [André Lagarrigue](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Lagarrigue), and later [André Astier](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Astier).

In 1958, Gregory was appointed professor of physics at [Polytechnique](/source/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique).<ref name = CVBG /> Around 1960, Gregory got involved in the bubble chambers research. He directed the work on the [81 cm Saclay Bubble Chamber](/source/81_cm_Saclay_Bubble_Chamber), developed by the technical services at [Saturne](/source/Saturne) for the laboratory of the [École Polytechnique](/source/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique), and was subsequently brought to [CERN PS](/source/Proton_Synchrotron) in [Geneva](/source/Geneva).<ref name=obituary />

He was Directorate Member for Research at CERN from 1964 to 1965.<ref name=Gregory_thesis /> From 1966 to 1970, he was [Director General of CERN](/source/CERN_director).<ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://cds.cern.ch/record/1728737|title = Prof. Gregory to succeed Prof. Weisskopf next January |accessdate = 2 September 2015|journal = CERN Courier|publisher = CERN|year = 1965 }}</ref> At CERN, he supervised most of the construction of the world's first [hadron collider](/source/hadron_collider), the [Intersecting Storage Rings](/source/Intersecting_Storage_Rings) (ISR).

Following his mandate as CERN Director-General, Gregory returned to the Polytechnique laboratory in Paris. Soon he became director-general of the [National Center for Scientific Research](/source/National_Center_for_Scientific_Research) (CNRS), which he led from 1973 to 1976.<ref name = CVBG /> The same year, he became Délégué général à la Recherche scientifique et technique (DGRST). Gregory was the first chair of the International Committee for Future Accelerators, a working group of the [International Union of Pure and Applied Physics](/source/International_Union_of_Pure_and_Applied_Physics).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Membership {{!}} ICFA |url=https://icfa.hep.net/membership/ |access-date=2025-01-17 |language=en-US}}</ref> He was elected president for the CERN Council for 1978, but died before entering this position.<ref name=BullGreg />

There is a street, [Route Gregory](/source/List_of_streets_at_CERN), named after Gregory at the CERN Meyrin site.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://library.web.cern.ch/archives/history_CERN/DG/Gregory Bernard Gregory bio] at CERN

{{S-start}}
{{s-bus}}
{{S-bef|before=[Victor Weisskopf](/source/Victor_Frederick_Weisskopf)}}
{{s-ttl|title=[Director General of CERN](/source/CERN_director)|years=1966-1970}}
{{S-aft|after=[Willibald Jentschke](/source/Willibald_Jentschke) and [John Adams](/source/John_Adams_(physicist)) (Co-directors)}}
{{end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Bernard}}
Category:People associated with CERN
Category:People from Bergerac, Dordogne
Category:1919 births
Category:1977 deaths
Category:People associated with the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics
Category:20th-century French physicists

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bernard Gregory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Gregory) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Gregory?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.