The Fundamentals of Physics

Fifty students got a taste of cutting-edge physics research from 15 July to 4 August at the second African School in Fundamental Physics and Applications (ASP). The school, which was held in Kumasi, Ghana, gave the participants a detailed overview of fundamental physics.

ICTP's Bobby Acharya, who is on the international organizing committee, says that students were given an insight into "everything from the Standard Model of Particle Physics through cosmology to particle accelerators and detectors and applications such as radiation therapy and grid computing."

A unique feature of this school was that many different institutes from around the world, including ICTP and CERN, funded it. ICTP also provided the secretarial support that bought and arranged the travel of most of the students and lecturers.

 "The fact that so many different institutes and countries support the school demonstrates how strongly the international community feels about wanting ASP to succeed," says Acharya.

While at the school, students attended lectures delivered by experts in the field from around the world. "A great deal of effort is also devoted to finding future opportunities for the students; for example, some of them will apply to the ICTP Postgraduate Diploma Programme. We hope that one day, current students from the school will be lecturing in a future edition of the school." Acharya says.

For more details visit the school Webpage