Nobel Peace Prize

Mohamed ElBaradei at ICTP in September 1999

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize for Peace to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director General Mohamed ElBaradei "for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way". Mohamed ElBaradei has visited ICTP several times. His latest visit took place in 1999 when he came to discuss how to strengthen ties between ICTP and IAEA. At the time, he conducted a lengthy interview with ICTP's public information officer, which was subsequently published in News from ICTP, Spring 2000.

Ramanujan Prize Award Ceremony

Marcelo A. Viana, Instituto de Matemática Pura e Aplicada (IMPA) in Brazil, was awarded the first Ramanujan Prize on 15 December. Guests of honour attending the ceremony included Arne Sletsjoe, vice-chair of the Niels Henrik Abel Memorial Fund; John Ball, president of the International Mathematical Union (IMU); Rajiv Dogra, India's ambassador to Italy; and Eva Bugge, Norway's ambassador to Italy. Viana lectured on "Lorenz Strange Attractors." Sponsored by the Niels Henrik Abel Memorial Fund and jointly organised by ICTP and IMU, the prize carries a US$10,000 cash award. It is named after Srinivasa Ramanujan, whom many consider India's most gifted mathematician.

Dirac Medal Ceremony

ICTP's Dirac Medal 2005 award ceremony took place in the ICTP Main Lecture Hall on 11 November. ICTP director K.R. Sreenivasan presented the Dirac Medal to Sir Sam Edwards and Patrick A. Lee. In the awardees' lectures that followed, Edwards spoke about the potential applications of statistical mechanics to granular systems and Lee about the Dirac spectrum in condensed matter physics.

UN Day, 24 October 2005

ICTP served as host for UN Day on 24 October. The celebration, presided over by ICTP Director K.R. Sreenivasan, took place in the Main Lecture Hall. Representatives of Trieste's UN-related institutions-including the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), the International Centre for Science and High Technology (ICS) and The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS)- were present. So too were officials from Trieste and the surrounding region. The celebration began with a video message from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Giulio Giorello, University of Milan, Italy, presented a lecture on Albert Einstein in honour of the 2005 International Year of Physics. High school students from Trieste who have excelled in physics received cash prizes for their achievements. A photographic exhibit by local photographer Carlo Pacorini and a concert by SISSA's Choir were also part of the event. This year marked the 60th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.

Claudio Tuniz, ICTP assistant director, met in December with the Corp Consulaire in Trieste. Speaking before consuls from nearly 40 countries, Tuniz described the Centre's broad-ranging research and training activities and discussed ways to enhance interactions between ICTP's staff and visitors and representatives from the consular offices in Trieste.

UNESCO's Center in Turin, Italy, in collaboration with the University of Turin's Department of Physics, Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), Gustavo Colonnetti Meteorological Institute (IMGC), and Centro studi e documentazione pensiero femminile in Turin, organised a two-day trip to Trieste for winners of the contest "Women and Physics: A Possible Vocation". In addition to visiting ICTP, the 40 winners (chosen from an applicant pool of 300) spent time at Elettra Synchrotron Light Laboratory and the Astronomic Observatory.

John Ziman with Abdus Salam at ICTP, 1987

John Michael Ziman, a friend and colleague of Abdus Salam and former member of the ICTP Scientific Council, has died at the age of 79. Born in New Zealand, he obtained his Ph.D in mathematics and physics at Balliol College in Oxford, UK. He then moved to Cambridge where he lectured and conducted fundamental research on the theory of liquid metals. In 1964 he was appointed professor of theoretical physics at Bristol University. Four years later, he expanded his intellectual fields of interest from science to humanities publishing his first non-technical book, Public Knowledge, emphasising the social character of science. Ziman subsequently devoted increasing time to reflections on the relationship between science, politics and society. In 1982, he closed out his career as a research scientist when he became a visiting professor in the department of humanities at Imperial College, London. His most important books are The Force of Knowledge (1976) and Real Science (2000). Ziman was a frequent visitor to ICTP, coming for his last time in November 1997 to participate in the Abdus Salam Memorial Meeting.

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