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News from ICTP 98 - Monitor
The 2000 ICTP Prize ceremony was held on 7 August in the Centre's
Main Lecture Hall. The two recipients of the prize were Tyakal
Nanjundiah Venkataramana, School of Mathematics at the Tata
Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India, and Sheng-Li
Tan, Department of Mathematics, East China Normal University,
Shanghai, People's Republic of China. Friedrich Hirzebruch,
Max Planck Institute of Mathematics, Bonn, Germany, in whose honour
the prize was given, was also present at the ceremony.
Telit Mobile Terminals S.p.A. and ICTP have signed a memorandum of understanding for future collaboration focussing on training activities in the field of radio research and applications. Telit, which is located in Trieste, is a telecommunications company with a long-standing interest in research and development activities related to radio technologies. Participants in ICTP's School on Digital and Multimedia Communications Using Terrestrial and Satellite Radio Links, held in early spring, enjoyed access to Telit's laboratories for hands-on exercises and demonstrations.
Reza Moridi, vice-president for Science and Technology
of the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada in Toronto, visited
ICTP on 23 July. He met with ICTP director Miguel Virasoro and
toured the ICTP library and computer facilities.
An exhibition, "The Legacy of Galvani and Volta in Contemporary
Science," featuring the unique work of the famed Italian
scientists Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta, was on display
on Lower Level 1 of the Adriatico Guesthouse from 11 July to 10
September. Consisting of 28 panels explaining the contributions
of two of Italy's most original thinkers, the exhibition was held
in connection with the Sixth School on Non-Accelerator Astroparticle
Physics. Both the school and exhibition were organised in cooperation
with the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN).
Juan José Giambiagi Lecture Hall
On 24 September, ICTP held a ceremony to dedicate the Juan José
Giambiagi Lecture Hall on Lower Level 1 of the Adriatico Guesthouse.
Argentinean-born Giambiagi, who died in 1996, was one of the developing
world's most honoured physicists and a leading figure for the
promotion of scientific cooperation in Latin America. He was one
of the Centre's first Associates and a frequent visitor to Trieste
during the 1960s and early 1970s. He then served on the ICTP Scientific
Council in the 1980s.
TRIBUTE - Sir Fred Hoyle, 1915-2001
Sir Fred Hoyle, one of the most distinguished and controversial astrophysicists of the 20th century, died on 20 August at his home in Bournemouth, UK. Sir Fred was born in Bingley, Yorkshire, and educated in mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge, where he served as a full professor from 1945 to 1973. His name is associated with the steady-state cosmological model of the universe, developed in 1948 but eclipsed during the mid-1960s by the scientific community's growing emphasis on the Big Bang theory, a term ironically coined by Sir Fred to ridicule the idea. Sir Fred made fundamental contributions to our knowledge of stellar evolution with his work on the synthesis of the elements beyond helium in stars. In 1972 he founded Cambridge's Institute of Theoretical Astronomy and served as its first director. A prolific writer, he published some 40 books both for professional scientists and the public. He also successfully tried his hand at science fiction. Sir Fred, who taught astronomy to ICTP's founding director Abdus Salam when Salam was a student in Cambridge, visited the Centre in 1970, 1985, and 1991.
