Spirit of Salam Winners Announced

The family of ICTP founder and Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam has revealed the winners of the 2021 Spirit of Abdus Salam Award. Announced annually on 29 January—Abdus Salam’s birthday—the award recognizes those who, like Salam himself, have worked tirelessly to promote the development of science and technology in disadvantaged parts of the world.

This year’s Spirit of Abdus Salam Award recipients are:

Mohamed Hassan, Sudan:
For his lifelong dedication to building sustainable science in the developing world through research, education, policy and diplomacy.

 Mohamed Hassan is a distinguished and highly influential Sudanese advocate for science in the developing world. He was an early-career Sudanese mathematician when Abdus Salam recruited him to come to ICTP. In 1983, Salam asked him to help organize the foundation meeting that would establish TWAS, the World Academy of Sciences. At the recommendation of Salam, the TWAS Founding Fellows appointed Hassan as TWAS's first executive director in 1985. He remained in that role for 26 years, becoming a close advisor to Salam and developing TWAS's worldwide networks that have had far-reaching impact.

"Mohamed Hassan has been a long-term friend and collaborator of father," said Ahmad Salam, who coordinates the yearly prize. "Father picked him as man with the charm, intellect and flair to drive TWAS as it was then from just an idea to reality.  I believe father knew that in Hassan he would have someone who could learn the art of networking and building bridges across communities. Hassan delivered and helped build TWAS into the fine organisation it is today. He has worked tirelessly in the spirit of Salam to further education, science and technology for all. He has led from the front and always been  willing to sacrifice himself and his comfort for a more noble cause. I know father was very fond of Hassan and was very grateful to him for the hard work and effort he put in to build the strong foundation of TWAS. We are honoured to award Mohamed Hassan the Spirit of Salam Award."

Gregorio Medrano Asensio, Spain:
For his efforts and vision to create an institute that would have overcome geographic and religious barriers to promote unity through science.

Gregorio Medrano Asensio, a Spanish physicist, had a long history of collaboration with Abdus Salam and was a frequent visitor to ICTP. Inspired by Salam, Asensio in 1980 proposed the creation in Spain of a Center for Energy Studies which would have established a triangular forum between Spain, the Islamic world, and Latin America. Unfortunately the project did not materialize due to political changes in Spain.

"Gregorio is another long term associate and friend of Abdus Salam," explained Ahmad Salam, adding, "He lived and breathed the spirit of Salam, and he believed in the need to build bridges and build for a greater good. Whilst  Gregorio was heavily influenced and inspired by father, he also followed his own path, but always kept the ethos and words of father in sight. If the Centre for Energy Studies had become reality, it would have allowed a part of the Islamic world to gain a seat at the top table of intellectual excellence and would have given Latin America a much needed boost and step up to also develop relevant expertise and excellence.  It is our collective loss that the Centre did not materialise this time around, but we must be optimistic and Gregorio's and fathers dream may still become reality. We are delighted to award Gregorio the Spirit of Salam Award."

Hilda Cerdeira, Argentina:
For her dedication to ensuring that scientists, no matter where they live and work, have equal access to prestigious science literature.

Hilda Cerdeira was a scientist in ICTP's Condensed Matter section until her retirement in 2004. In addition to her scientific work, she developed ICTP's eJournals Delivery Service, a tool that allows scientists at institutions in least developed or low-income countries to access current scientific literature, mainly in the fields of physics and mathematics. The articles are sent as email attachments so as to reach individual scientists who do not have access to sufficient bandwidth to download material from the Internet in a timely manner and/or cannot afford the connection.

"It is a matter of great pleasure to award Hilda, as her contribution was so in the whole spirit of ICTP, and father, and everything they stood for: that no person should be denied access to intellectual stimulation, support and knowledge and the accident of birth would not hinder their personal development," said Ahmad Salam. "Hilda worked tirelessly and without wanting any recognition for her work. She worked passionately to make the Delivery Service a reality and ensure access to all. The platform Hilda helped to create could well be scaled up beyond just mathematics and physics, and it would be wonderful to see this happen. In many ways Hilda embodies the spirit of Salam, and we are thrilled to award Hilda the Spirit of Salam Award."

The winners were announced by Ahmad Salam in a recording available on ICTP's YouTube channel.

About the Spirit of Abdus Salam Award

The Spirit of Abdus Salam Award may be given to anyone within the extended ICTP family of scientists and non-scientists, and administrative staff alike who can show that they have worked tirelessly to further Abdus Salam's humanitarian  passion  and vision for the cooperation,  promotion and development of science and technology in the developing  world. For more details, and to see the list of past winners, please visit the Spirit of Abdus Salam Award website.