Nevertheless, if I have at times been able to make original contributions in the accelerator field, I cannot help feeling that to a certain extent my slightly amateur approach in physics, combined with much practical experience, was an asset.

Van der Meer and Ernest Lawrence are the only two accelerator physicists who have won the Nobel prize. The W and Z bosons had been theoretically predicted some years earlier and their experimental discovery was considered a significant success for CERN. Van der Meer and Rubbia shared the 1984 Nobel Prize for their decisive contributions to the project.