Science in the South

摘要

The international Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, turned 40 this October. It is an occasion for some reflection. The scientists who created ICTP, notably the Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam of Pakistan, were motivated by a goal that is simple to proclaim but difficult to I fulfill: to advance the level and role of science in the Southern world by overcoming the H debilitating isolation of scientists who work there. This goal is more important now than ever before. No country today can survive and prosper in isolation, and economic prosperity is tied to scientific development The building of scientific capacity needed everywhere is thus in our collective interest and is a shared responsibility. Forty years on, however, we still live in a world in which a majority of scientists, scientific discoveries, publications, and patents come from developed countries. So, what has ICTP accomplished?