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.

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