The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) is a research center for physical and mathematical sciences, located in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

Friuli-Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia () is one of the 20 regions of Italy and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The regional capital is Trieste on the Gulf of Trieste, a bay of the Adriatic Sea. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of and a ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The center operates under a tripartite agreement between the Italian Government,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

, and the

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology, nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was ...

. It is located near the Miramare Park, about 10 kilometres from the downtown of

city, Italy. The centre was founded in 1964 by Pakistani Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam. ICTP is part of the Trieste System, a network of national and international scientific institutes in Trieste, promoted by the Italian physicist Paolo Budinich.

Mission

* Foster the growth of advanced studies and research in physical and mathematical sciences, especially in support of excellence in developing countries; * Develop high-level scientific programmes keeping in mind the needs of developing countries, and provide an international forum of scientific contact for scientists from all countries; * Conduct research at the highest international standards and maintain a conducive environment of scientific inquiry for the entire ICTP community.

Research

Research at ICTP is carried out by seven scientific sections: * High Energy,

Cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...

and Astroparticle Physics * Condensed Matter and

Statistical Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

Physics *

Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

* Earth System Physics * Science, Technology and

Innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

* Quantitative Life Sciences *New Research Areas (which includes studies related to Energy and Sustainability and

Computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, hardware and softw ...

Sciences) The scientific community at ICTP includes staff research scientists, postdoctoral fellows and long- and short-term visitors engaged in independent or collaborative research. Throughout the year, the sections organize conferences, workshops, seminars and colloquiums in their respective fields. ICTP also has visitor programmes specifically for scientific visitors from developing countries, including programmes under federation and associateship schemes.

Postgraduate programmes

ICTP offers educational training through its pre-PhD programmes and degree programmes (conducted in collaboration with other institutes). ;Pre-PhD programmes * Postgraduate diploma programmes in Condensed Matter Physics, High Energy Physics, Mathematics, Earth System Physics, and Quantitative Life Sciences for students from developing countries. * The Sandwich Training Educational Programme (STEP) for students from developing countries already enrolled in PhD programmes in the fields of physics and mathematics. In collaboration with other institutes, ICTP offers masters and doctoral degrees in physics and mathematics. * Joint ICTP/SISSA PhD Programme in Physics and Mathematics * Joint PhD Programme in Earth Science and

Fluid Mechanics Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids (liquids, gases, and plasma (physics), plasmas) and the forces on them. Originally applied to water (hydromechanics), it found applications in a wide range of discipl ...

* Joint Laurea Magistralis in Physics * Joint ICTP/Collegio Carlo Alberto Program in Economics * International Master, Physics of Complex Systems * Master of Advanced Studies in

Medical Physics Medical physics deals with the application of the concepts and methods of physics to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human diseases with a specific goal of improving human health and well-being. Since 2008, medical physics has been incl ...

* Masters in High Performance Computing In addition, ICTP collaborates with local laboratories, including Elettra Synchrotron Light Laboratory, to provide fellowships and laboratory opportunities.

Prizes and awards

ICTP has instituted awards to honour and encourage high-level research in the fields of physics and mathematics. * The Dirac Medal – For scientists who have made significant contributions to theoretical physics. * The ICTP Prize – For young scientists from and working in developing countries. * ICO/ICTP Gallieno Denardo Award – For significant contributions to the field of optics. * The Ramanujan Prize – For young mathematicians from developing countries. * The Walter Kohn Prize – Given jointly by ICTP and the Quantum ESPRESSO foundation, for work in quantum mechanical materials or molecular modelling, performed by a young scientist working in a developing country.

Partner institutes

One of ICTP's goals is to set up regional centres of excellence around the globe. The idea is to bring ICTP's unique blend of high-quality physics and mathematics education and high-level science meetings closer to scientists everywhere. On February 6, 2012, ICTP opened a partner institute (ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research) in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Brazil. Its activities are modelled on those of the ICTP and include schools and workshops, as well as a visiting scientists programme. On October 18, 2018, a partner institute (ICTP-EAIFR, the East African Institute for Fundamental Research), was inaugurated in

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali is a relativ ...

, Rwanda. In November 2018, ICTP opened the International Centre for Theoretical Physics Asia-Pacific (ICTP-AP) in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China, in collaboration with the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Journal

In 2007 ICTP created the peer-reviewed open-access Journal "African Review of Physics" under the then name "African Physical Review".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:International Centre For Theoretical Physics International Atomic Energy Agency International research institutes for mathematics International research institutes Physics research institutes Physics organizations Research institutes established in 1964 Trieste UNESCO Abdus Salam Research institutes in Italy Italy and the United Nations Theoretical physics institutes