For more than four decades, the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) has been the driving force behind global efforts to advance scientific expertise in the developing world.

Founded in 1964 by the late Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam, ICTP seeks to accomplish its mandate by:

÷ Providing world-class research and training facilities for scientists from the developing world.

÷ Fostering advanced scientific research, especially in theoretical physics and mathematics.

÷ Creating an international forum for the exchange of scientific information through comprehensive courses, workshops, schools and seminars.

Broadly speaking, ICTP serves as a gathering place for both young and experienced scientists from around the world - and particularly from the South. Scientists come here to share ideas and learn from one another - and then to return home to continue their teaching and research in their native countries.

ICTP pursues scientific excellence in research and training-for-research in a variety of fields, including:

÷ Physics of Condensed Matter

÷ High Energy Physics

÷ Pure and Applied Mathematics

÷ Nuclear Physics

÷ Statistical Physics

÷ Physics of the Earth

÷ Physics of Weather and Climate

÷ Physics of the Living State

÷ Applied Physics

Each day, the Centre's facilities accommodate on average 400 scientists. Over the past four decades, nearly 80,000 visitors from 170 countries have come to ICTP to participate in the Centre's schools, workshops, conferences and seminars.

ICTP holds about 40 research and training activities annually. These activities keep the Centre at the forefront of global scientific research and enable ICTP staff scientists to offer Centre visitors a broad range of research and training activities.

ICTP also oversees a one-year Diploma Course that allows students from the world's least developed countries to receive advanced training in high-energy physics, condensed matter physics and mathematics, leading to the equivalent of a master's degree. Many graduates of the Centre's Diploma Course have gone on to earn doctorate degrees in universities in the United States and Europe; others have returned to their home countries to teach and continue their research. In cooperation with the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), ICTP has recently expanded the Diploma Course to include training in modeling and simulation of complex realities.

ICTP also oversees the Training in Research in Italian Laboratories (TRIL) programme that enables students from developing countries to enjoy extended stays in Italian university and government research laboratories.

Visitors to ICTP have access to computer facilities that are linked electronically to scientific data bases around the world. In addition, they have access to the Centre's library, which contains more than 100,000 books and journals in physics and mathematics. The library is considered one of the finest specialized libraries in Europe.

Historically, scientists from the South have suffered from inadequate facilities and professional isolation. As a result, many have migrated to the North to advance their careers. By providing scientists from the South with on-going opportunities for research and learning, ICTP has been a major force in stemming the scientific brain-drain from the Third World, most notably through its Associateship programme.

ICTP works hard to ensure that diverse groups of scientists have an opportunity to participate in the Centre's research and training activities. Researchers from Argentina to Uganda - and hundreds of points in between - now call ICTP their second home.

ICTP alumni serve as professors at major universities, chairpersons of academic departments, directors of research centres and ministers of science and technology in nations throughout the developing world. As a result, the impact of ICTP extends well beyond the Centre's facilities to universities, research institutions and government agencies throughout the South.

ICTP receives most its funding from the Italian government. The Centre also enjoys financial support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO also serves as the Centre's lead administrative agency.

In addition, ICTP obtains programmatic funding from a number of organizations, including the European Commission, Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries (Sida-SAREC), and Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS).