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A delegation of Latin American ambassadors and embassy representatives resident in Rome visited ICTP on Wednesday 22 November to learn more about the Centre. The delegates, who belong to the Organizzazione Internazionale Italo-Latino Americana (IILA), were in Trieste to discover the city's world-class science institutes. While at ICTP, the delegation--representing some 18 Latin American countries--learned of the Centre's research and education activities in support of science in the developing world. Their visit included meetings with ICTP students and scientists from Latin American countries, and tours of the Marie Curie Library and the SciFabLab.
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| Latin American delegation at ICTP (ICTP Photo Archives/Franco Dreolin) |
During their visit with ICTP scientists and students from Latin America, the delegation heard first-hand accounts about the positive impact that ICTP has made on science in the region. Researchers told about how some of them where the first ones in their countries to have advanced studies in specific areas such as Medical Physics, thus making their stay at ICTP a very important opportunity for them and their institutions to set up these areas at home. From further discussions, it was clear that ICTP's multicultural environment, which allows the possibility to learn not only science but other languages and cultures by sharing the day-to-day life was really special to all of the Latin American scientists.
ICTP's links with Latin America run deep. Since 1970, the Centre has supported the visits of more than 15,000 scientists from the region to participate in ICTP programmes, and has held 65 training activities there. Latin American scientists have taken home 25 of ICTP's distinguished awards for scientific achievements, including ICTP Director Fernando Quevedo, a Guatemalan national, who shared the 1998 ICTP Prize with Venezuelan physicist Anamaria Font for their contribution to phenomenological studies in superstring theory.
More recently, ICTP has launched partner institutes in Latin America, in order to bring its unique blend of high-quality physics and mathematics education and high-level science meetings closer to scientists in the developing world. The ICTP-South American Institute for Fundamental Research in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is a regional centre for theoretical physics created in collaboration with the State University of Sao Paulo (UNESP) and the Sao Paulo Research Funding Agency (FAPESP). In Chiapas, Mexico, ICTP and the Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas have established the ICTP-Mesoamerican Centre for Theoretical Physics.
Photos of the visit are available on ICTP's Flickr page.
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