[7][8] In this role he supervised the research program for the Super Proton–Antiproton Synchrotron, which resulted in the award of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1984 to Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meer "for their decisive contributions to the large project, which led to the discovery of the field particles W and Z, communicators of weak interaction.

He also played an instrumental role in the development of the heavy-ion research program at CERN,[11][12][13] which opened the possibilities to study quark–gluon plasma.

[16][17][18] In 2002, President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Roselyne Bachelot assigned Yves Coppens with creating the French Charter for the Environment.

In 2002, Klapisch organized a series of lectures, called Partage du Savoir en Méditerranée, carried out under the direction of the Association for the Advancement of Sciences.

From January 2010 until his death, Klapisch was an elected member of the Institute for Advanced Studies on Sustainability based in Potsdam, of which Klaus Töpfer is the Director.