A memoir from the pen of Jana and Jaroslav Bielčík:
It is with deep sadness to inform you that our dear colleague and friend Karel Safarik passed away on 7 October 2024.
Karel graduated in theoretical physics in Bratislava (former Czechoslovakia) in 1976 and worked at JINR Dubna for more than 11 years, participating in experiments at the Serpukhov accelerator and in the phenomenology of particle production at high energies. In 1990 Karel joined the Collège de France and the heavy-ion programme at CERN and very soon became one of the most influential scientists in the Omega heavy-ion experiments at the CERN SPS (WA85, WA94, WA97). In 2002 Karel was awarded the Slovak Academy of Sciences Prize for his research on the observation of the enhancement of the production of multistrange particles in heavy-ion collisions at the SPS. Later, in 2013 he was also awarded the medal of the Czech Physical Society.
Karel was a member of the ALICE collaboration from the very beginning. Already in 1991 he was a member of the group of scientists who designed the first heavy-ion detector setup, which later became ALICE. In 1993 Karel joined CERN as a Fellow and continued as a staff member from 1997. Karel was instrumental not only in defining the physics programme and helping to develop the ALICE detector set-up early on, but until his retirement from CERN he played a central role in ALICE. From the first tracking software, the design of charm-meson detection, the off-line computing coordination, to his election as the ALICE physics coordinator in 2004. Karel served in this very demanding and responsible role during the first period of ALICE data taking, starting first with pp data and followed by PbPb data. Karel was also responsible for and led the preparation of two volumes of the ALICE Physics Performance Report. Later he also took responsibility for defining the physics priorities for the ALICE upgrade programme.
After retiring from CERN, Karel moved to Czechia and worked at the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering, CTU Prague. He was also the main organizer of the ALICE Upgrade Week which took place in Prague in 2022. The Czech ALICE community has benefited greatly in the past years from Karel‘s enthusiasm and passion for science in daily interactions, seminars or just over a beer.
It is a big loss for the whole heavy-ion community. Karel, we will miss you a lot!
Our thoughts are with Karel’s family, friends and other close colleagues.