The Edward Bouchet Abdus Salam Institute (EBASI) is a

scientific organization Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

with the aim of promoting collaboration between African and American physicists and encouraging the training of physicists from the African continent. The institution was founded by

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...

in physics

Abdus Salam Mohammad Abdus Salam Salam adopted the forename "Mohammad" in 1974 in response to the anti-Ahmadiyya decrees in Pakistan, similarly he grew his beard. (; ; 29 January 192621 November 1996) was a Punjabi Pakistani theoretical physicist and a ...

in 1988, originally as the Edward A. Bouchet-

ICTP The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) is an international research institute for physical and mathematical sciences that operates under a tripartite agreement between the Italian Government, United Nations Education ...

Institute. The name honors

Edward Bouchet Edward Alexander Bouchet (September 15, 1852 – October 28, 1918) was an American physicist and educator and was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from any American university, completing his dissertation in physics at Yale University, ...

, widely recognized as the first person of African descent to receive a Ph.D. in physics in the United States. The name was changed in 1998 to honor Salam, who died in 1996.

History

EBASI was founded on 30 September 1988 by

, a

in physics who was also the Founding Director of the

International Center for Theoretical Physics The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) is an international research institute for physical and mathematical sciences that operates under a tripartite agreement between the Italian Government, United Nations Education ...

(ICTP) (now known as the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics). Salam was well known as an activist for diversity in science and for greater participation from

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

. The organization was founded with five council members from the United States, including Ronald Mickens and Milton Slaughter; five from Africa, including

Francis Allotey Francis Kofi Ampenyin Allotey (9 August 1932 – 2 November 2017) was a Ghanaian mathematical physicist. Together with Daniel Afedzi Akyeampong, he became the first Ghanaian to obtain a doctorate in mathematical sciences, earned in 1966. Early ...

and Mohamed H.A. Hassan; and one representative from ICTP.

Current activities

EBASI currently sponsors scientific conferences hosted at African universities, of which the most recent was held in 2010 in

Dakar, Senegal Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 20 ...

. EBASI cooperates with the ICTP to promote training and research opportunities for African scientists in collaboration with those based in Europe and the United States. EBASI is headquartered at the ICTP in

Trieste, Italy Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

References

External links

* {{authority control International research institutes Abdus Salam