Egyptian science, once an enduring pillar of this ancient civilisation, shows promising signs of rebirth.

Among the Pyramids

Cairo, the political and cultural heartland of the Arab world, served as the venue for the Cairo International Conference on High Energy Physics, which took place in January.
Two former ICTP Diploma students, Shaaban Khalil (1991-1992) and Elsayed Lashin (1992-1993), were instrumental in organising the conference, and funding from ICTP's Office of External Activities (OEA) covered travel and lodging expenses for many participants from the developing world. Additional money from the US National Science Foundation helped to make the conference an international event. In all, some 60 physicists from around the world attended.
The conference was the first of its kind to be held in Egypt. Although science in Egypt has faced hard times for a very long time, for several millennia during ancient times the country was at the centre of scientific discovery.
Egypt, in fact, is home to one of the world's oldest civilisations--the place where humankind made its first great leaps forward in science and technology. According to scholars, Egypt and Babylon informed and inspired the ancient civilization of Greece, which most intellectuals view as one of the pillars of modern science. Meanwhile, Giza's 5000-year-old pyramids, which required precise knowledge of geometry and engineering, serve as a lasting symbol of ancient Egypt's scientific and technological skill.
The golden age of Egyptian science, centered in Cairo, took place between the 20th and 15th centuries before the birth of Christ. Nearly a thousand years later, following the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great, the city named in honour of this fierce warrior and world conqueror became a renowned centre of learning with the construction of a museum and library unprecedented in size and scope for their time. Euclid lived and worked in Alexandria, as did Erastothenes of Cyrene, the first scientist to accurately measure the Earth's circumference, and Apollonios of Perga, who wrote the first textbook on conics. Astronomical studies in Alexandria were equally remarkable. For example, Aristarchos, the Copernicus of antiquity, proposed a heliocentric cosmological system 1800 years before Copernicus.
Egypt's golden age of science is not about to return but recent developments suggest that the long dark days for science in Egypt may finally be coming to an end. Indeed a reasonable level of research in nuclear physics, laser physics and spectroscopy has taken place in Egypt over the past two decades. But the same cannot be said for particle physics. While physicists and, more generally, scientists suffer from the usual litany of problems afflicting researchers in the developing world (limited access to journals and books, inadequate laboratory equipment, and suffocating bureaucratic rules and regulations), there is now a level of knowledge, commitment and even enthusiasm, especially among younger physicists, that suggest progress will be made despite the obstacles standing in the way.
The coordinated efforts of ICTP's Diploma Programme and Office of External Activities deserve some of the credit for the promising signs that surround the state of particle physics in Egypt. The nation's young and talented physicists would be the first to tell you that ICTP's 'support stream' from post-undergraduate education through the first years of their careers has been instrumental in their efforts to turn their dreams into reality. But at the same time much of the credit must go to the perseverance of the scientists themselves. Shaaban Khalil, for example, first presented his proposal to hold an international conference on high energy physics in Cairo several years ago. Thwarted time and again by a lack of funding and bureaucratic indifference, he refused to be discouraged and finally triumphed when most observers thought he would fail.
Slowly but steadily a critical mass of Egyptian-born particle physicists are earning advanced degrees, and slowly but steadily they are choosing to return to their home country after completing their education abroad. As these researchers become better known in the global physics community, they are attracting the attention of their university deans and presidents at home. Such notice often leads to additional funding and additional funding opens the door to more productive research.
If current trends continue, Egypt, once the home of Euclid, could soon have its own centre for theoretical physics. And if such a centre is built, the International Conference on High Energy Physics, held in Cairo in January, will surely be cited as one of the major reasons why.

Faheem Hussain
Coordinator, ICTP High Energy Diploma Course
Head, ICTP Office of External Activities

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