ICTP's Condensed Matter Section seeks to promote workshops and conferences of professional excellence and develop world-class in-house research capabilities to meet the ever-changing circumstances of science in the developing world.

Condensed Matters

When Abdus Salam launched the ICTP in 1964, his goal was to establish a "centre of excellence" in Trieste that would pay particular attention to the needs of scientists from the developing world.

"At the beginning," says YU Lu, Head of ICTP's Condensed Matter Section, "the Condensed Matter programme focused on training activities designed to teach basic skills. Today, we continue to pursue that goal through 'colleges' and 'workshops' opened to a wide range of young scientists from the South. But changing circumstances in the developing world have required us to pursue other strategies as well."

YU Lu notes that in the 1960s science and math education in the South lagged far behind the North. As a result, many young scientists receiving training in their home countries simply did not have the skills they needed to be competent in their fields.

"That's still true in many cases, but not always," says YU Lu, who was educated in China and Ukraine and spent several years working in the United States. "Many developing countries, including India, China, Brazil and Argentina, now produce high-level scientists. And a number of research institutions in the South--notably, the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore--compare favourably with the best facilities in the North. In fact, Bangalore, a metropolis in southern India, has been called the Silicon Valley of the South because of its growing high-tech capabilities."

YU Lu insists that the Centre must respond to these changing circumstances if it wants to continue to be of service to scientists in the developing world. For ICTP's Condensed Matter Section, this has required a continual rethinking of its training and research strategies.

Condensed matter physics, which is the largest subdiscipline in physics, is the study of solid and liquid materials. The field has led to some of the most important scientific discoveries of the twentieth century, including transistors, solid-state lasers and high-temperature superconductors. As YU Lu observes, condensed matter physics "has revolutionised all aspects of life from food processing to entertainment."

At ICTP, courses on the study of condensed matter began three years after the Centre's creation. The first college on condensed matter attracted 150 participants, mostly from the developing world.

"Several years later, ICTP launched a series of condensed matter workshops," notes YU Lu. "These activities were organized by outside researchers who came to the Centre for several weeks or months each year and then returned to their own universities or research centres to resume their regular work."

"Condensed matter research at the ICTP received a big boost in the late 1970s when the University of Trieste established a condensed matter programme and hired Erio Tosatti and Mario Tosi. Then, in 1979, SISSA (the International School for Advanced Studies) was launched right next door to the ICTP. Its strong presence in condensed matter physics made it a natural ally of the Centre and a ready source of cooperative ventures."

But programme continuity in condensed matter remained a problem at ICTP until 1986 when YU Lu was hired as the Centre's first full-time staff member with expertise in this field. "For more than a decade," YU Lu observes, "my colleagues and I have tried to create a balance between community service and excellence."

To achieve that balance, ICTP's colleges in condensed matter promote general training programmes for scientists with a wide range of skills. The section also supervises about 10 Diploma Course students in condensed matter who come to Trieste each year. These students receive training comparable to pre-doctoral work at many leading universities. Many then seek Ph.D. degrees in the U.S. and Europe.

YU Lu notes that the group, with the help of ICTP associate scientists, "tries to identify our most talented participants from all of our activities and then encourage them to remain in contact with the Centre over extended periods."

"Ganapathy Baskaran, who is a first-class researcher currently at the Indian Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and Olatunde Akinlade, who has enjoyed a distinguished career at the University of Agriculture Abeokuta in Nigeria, are two shining examples of the Centre's nurturing efforts," YU Lu observes. "Both Baskaran and Akinlade freely admit that they owe a good deal of their success to their affiliation with the Centre, particularly during the early stages of their careers."

Since 1987, the Condensed Matter Section has organized a large number of topical workshops in a wide range of research areas. Of particular note has been a series of workshops--10 in all--on strongly correlated electron systems. These workshops have taken place over the past decade following the discovery of high temperature superconductors. Each year, they have attracted some 80 people for 10 days of informal talks and discussions.

"Our goal is to replicate the success of the Aspen Institute of Physics in the United States," says YU Lu. "I think we're moving in the right direction. In fact, we've drawn some of the best people both to lead and participate in the workshops. Last year, for instance, Nobel Laureate Philip Anderson was here."

At the same time, the Condensed Matter Section continues to hold its long-standing Adriatico Research Conferences that were initiated by Stig Lundqvist, a close friend of Abdus Salam and one of the moving forces behind the Centre throughout its first decades of existence.

"These conferences, which are more formal than the topical workshops, attract 50 to 100 participants," YU Lu notes. "They usually last four days and include presentations by some of the most noted people in their fields. Last summer, Stuart Kauffman, an international expert in the field of complex systems, directed one of our conferences."

Workshops and conferences are not the only places where the Condensed Matter Section seeks excellence. The same goal shapes the strategy of its in-house research, which has grown from a three-person operation in 1986 to a section now boasting a research staff of 11, including several SISSA consultants and visiting scientists.

"The increasing level of sophistication of scientific research in the developing world," YU Lu notes, "means that it's no longer sufficient to be solely a training centre. If you want to have a strong presence in the world of science, you must demonstrate strong in-house research capabilities."

And that's what ICTP's Condensed Matter Section is trying to do in three core areas of the field:

- Studies of strongly correlated and disordered systems that seek to advance our fundamental knowledge of the physical world.

- Computational condensed matter physics, which has enhanced our understanding of the physics and chemistry of materials--and has the potential to do the same for biology.

- Statistical physics, which aids the development of mathematical modelling of complex systems and has important implications for physical and life sciences.

"The ultimate goal of our growing in-house research capabilities is to establish a presence in these fields that will lead physicists throughout the world to recognise the ICTP as a research centre of excellence in condensed matter on a par with the best in the world."

"We are not there yet," YU Lu acknowledges, "but we have an opportunity to reach our goal in 10 to 15 years--if we continue on the current path."

"As the challenges facing both scientists and scientific research institutions change in the South, the ICTP must change as well. The Centre has played a significant role in advancing science throughout the developing world. Now, the Centre's training and research activities--such as those in condensed matter--can continue to play a valuable role in the South by aiming at levels of excellence that were only a dream a generation ago but are now a distinct possibility."

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