India Lecture Tour

Between February and March 2026 ICTP Director Atish Dabholkar will travel to India and take part in a series of events at different science institutes across the country. The trip will be an occasion to strengthen the ties between ICTP and the Indian scientific community and to highlight ICTP’s mission and Abdus Salam’s legacy on the year of his centennial.

Several events will take place in different cities, from Pune to Bengaluru, and from New Delhi to Mumbai. Four of these events are included in the calendar of celebrations for Salam’s 100th birthday:

• Monday 23 February, ICTS, Bengaluru, Abdus Salam Memorial Public Lecture at ICTS (public talk): "Joining Forces to Unify Nature and to Unite the World" (livestream starts at 16:00 GMT+5.5)
• Wednesday 25 February, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi: "Joining Forces to Unify Nature and to Unite the World" (online registration required)
• Saturday 28 February, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, "Scientific Temper in the Age of Unreason" (on the occasion of Indian National Science Day)
• Monday 2 March, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, "Joining Forces to Unify Nature and to Unite the World" (livestream starts at 16:00 GMT+5.5)

Some of Dabholkar’s talks will focus on the significance of Salam’s scientific contributions and on the importance of scientific cooperation in today’s world. The lectures will crisscross between the powerful idea of giving a unified description of all fundamental interactions—which is behind the contributions that earned Salam the Nobel Prize—and that of creating a global collaboration for science, which led Salam to founding ICTP.

Dabholkar will also join the community of Tata Institute in celebrating the Indian National Science Day on 28 February, with a talk that will re-emphasize the ideals of science and advocate for the scientific method, especially in the era of misinformation and alternate facts on one hand and the social disconnect on the other.