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News from ICTP 110 - Features - 40th Anniversary Celebration
ICTP's 40th Anniversary Celebration
On 4-5 October, ICTP celebrated
its 40th anniversary with an international conference, 'Legacy
for the Future,' that attracted some 200 scientists from around
the world, including four Nobel Laureates: Walter Kohn (Chemistry
1998), University of California at Santa Barbara; Rudolph A. Marcus
(Chemistry 1992), California Institute of Technology; John Nash,
Jr. (Economic Sciences 1994), Princeton University; and Ahmed
H. Zewail (Chemistry 1999), California Institute of Technology.
The conference also included a roundtable discussion on the future
of science in the developing world that highlighted the unique
role that ICTP has played---and will continue to play---in such
efforts.
The conference's opening session included presentations by Altero
Matteoli, Italy's Minister of the Environment and Land Protection;
Roberto Antonione, Undersecretary, Italy's Ministry of Foreign
Affairs; Riccardo Illy, President of the Regione Friuli-Venezia
Giulia; and Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, Chairman
of the Group of 77. There were also messages from Koïchiro
Matsuura, Director General of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and Mohamed ElBaradei,
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
and opening remarks by Walter Erdelen, Assistant Director General,
UNESCO, and Werner Burkart, Deputy Director General, IAEA.
Conference highlights included:
-- The signing of a memorandum of agreement between Brazil's National
Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and
ICTP that will provide funding for four co-sponsored activities
each year in South America---two in Brazil and two in other South
American nations. Each of these activities, which are scheduled
to begin next year, will be open to scientists from throughout
the region.
-- An announcement by the Templeton Foundation that it would fund
five new awards for 'Leadership in Science and Public Life' to
be administered by ICTP. One of the five prizes will be named
after the Centre's founding director Abdus Salam, Nobel Laureate
in physics in 1979, and two will be named after Ahmed H. Zewail,
Nobel Laureate in chemistry in 1999. The prizes, each of which
will carry a cash award of US$20,000, are designed to recognise
and honour young scientists and scholars who have made significant
contributions to the interface between science and Islamic thought.
-- An announcement by the Niels Henrik Abel Memorial Fund of Norway
that it would fund an ICTP Prize in mathematics comparable to
the ICTP Prize in physics. The prize will be given in cooperation
with the International Mathematics Union (IMU). Named after the
great Indian mathematician, Ramanujan, it will include a cash
award of US$10,000. The first winner will be selected in 2005.
-- An announcement by the Italian Ministry for the Environment
and Land Protection that Italy would establish a new international
institution in Trieste for the training of scientific experts
and technologists in environmental protection. Named the International
Programme for Environmental Development (IPED), the initiative
will receive euro 1 million in funding to start. The programme's
ultimate goal is to boost capacity building and know-how for addressing
environmental issues throughout the world.
"Italy," noted Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of Italy,
in a congratulatory message sent to the participants of the conference,
"is proud to have endorsed the mission of ICTP 40 years ago,
and for having hosted and supported it. The Centre," he added,
"has produced research of the highest standard and has taken
in and educated thousands of researchers from the South....I extend
my best wishes to the director of ICTP, to all of its scientists
and co-workers, and to the distinguished guests who have gathered
to celebrate this important anniversary, with the hope that the
Centre will go from strength to strength in the years to come."
For additional information about the ICTP 40th anniversary conference, see www.ictp.it/pages/events/40years.html.