Adventurous Journey

When coming to an ICTP research and training activity, most scientists board an aeroplane and arrive at the Centre the same--or the following--day. But computational physicist Wesam El-Qadi experienced a far more adventurous--and arduous--journey when she tried to leave her homeland in Palestine in late April to attend the Centre's School on Synchrotron Radiation and Applications in Trieste.
El-Qadi, who lives with her parents in Bethany, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, explains: "I learned about my acceptance to the school in March and made arrangements to depart from Tel Aviv airport on Sunday 21 April. That would have allowed me to arrive a day before the opening session on Monday, 22 April. Unfortunately, I could not get my visa in time and I missed my flight. Nothing has been easy during the current conflict between Israelis and Palestinians."
The following week, El-Qadi kept her plans for her trip to Trieste alive, first by avoiding Israeli military checkpoints on foot to obtain her visa in Jerusalem and then, accompanied by her father, by passing through a series of automobile checkpoints near the River Jordan, to get to Amman's airport. (Tel Aviv's airport had been closed to Palestinians.) There, she boarded a flight to Milan. A connecting flight brought her to Trieste.
On Monday, 27 April, El-Qadi attended her first lecture at the school--a week late but glad to finally be here.
El-Qadi received a bachelor of science degree in 1994 from Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem where she majored in physics, and a master of science degree in 2000 from Bowling Green State University in Ohio (USA), where she studied computational physics and quantum mechanics. Between her studies, El-Qadi taught high school in Jerusalem for one year and served as a teaching assistant at Al-Quds University for two years.
Her current field of interest focusses on entropy computations as they relate to quantum mechanics. "It's a highly theoretical field in which we try to calculate and theorise about the relationship between energy, mass and entropy among subatomic particles."
Throughout her university studies, El-Qadi has always worked within the broad field of computation. Her earlier research focussed on improving methodologies for calculating the distribution of air pressure and velocities in the human larynx as part of a larger effort to learn more about human speech and phonation--a subject no less difficult but somewhat less abstract than what she is doing now.
"The ICTP synchrotron school," she notes, "will hopefully provide me with additional understanding of the techniques that may be used to enhance my computational skills in a variety of fields, most notably in the field of entropy. That was my hope when I first applied to the school about a year ago. Now that I have participated in this activity, I'm glad that I did not abandon my efforts to come. ICTP's administrative staff appreciated my dilemma and did all they could to keep my options open as my circumstances and flight plans underwent constant change. If not for them and the help of my family, I would never have made it."
El-Qadi hopes to continue her studies and earn a Ph.D. in computational physics, perhaps at a university in Europe or the United States. Eventually, she hopes to explore career opportunities in her own region, especially after the Bessy I is relocated to Jordan as is currently planned under the Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) project.
But for the immediate future, she is mostly concerned about living and working safely in Bethany, where she has resumed her work as a teaching assistant.
"The violence, tension, and daily disruptions and humiliations make it difficult--if not impossible--to have a normal life in Palestine. Thinking about tomorrow is a luxury when you face so many inescapable difficulties each day."

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