International Summer College

Nathiagali Summer College was established in 1976, Since its inception the college has traditionally been held at Nathiagali except for the period 1981-1984 when the venue was temporarily shifted to Islamabad.
The idea of organizing a college on regular basis came from distinguished Nobel Laureate, Professor Abdus Salam who suggested in 1974 that an international forum for scientists from developing countries be organized to encourage greater communication and flow of ideas among them. He also offered the assistance and co-sponsorship of the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste.
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission readily accepted Professors Salam’s idea and started work for its implementation.
The First College of the series was held in the summer of 1976 at Nathiagali which lent it the name. The idea proved to be a big success and the College has now evolved into an institution and become a prestigious event in the scientific calendar of this part of the world. This College is perhaps the only one of its kind to be organized in a developing country, covering a wide range of topics of science and emphasizing their applications to the contemporary needs of the society.

The College has the privilege of providing a forum for exchange of ideas between experience and youth, between wisdom and enthusiasm and between success and aspirations. It has been highly successful in catalyzing lively interaction among the participations mostly from the developing countries and faculty members, primarily from advanced countries.

The College has been purposely designed to cover in a synoptic manner the modern trends in physics and their application in current technological development with special reference to the needs of the developing world. It therefore encourages an interdisciplinary cross-flow of ideas and applications, such interactions help the scientists from less developed countries to cultivate direct contacts with those fortunate enough to be working in well equipped laboratories and research centers in the advanced countries- the mainstream of modern scientific activities.

The fact that international meeting of this scope can be held at all in a developing country must be viewed as a major event for the development of science as well as collaboration among scientists in the developing world. Exchange of experience amongst participants has been mutually beneficial providing opportunities to several of them to establish fruitful working contacts with their counterparts. A large number of active scientists in developing countries know each other and also the experts from developed countries through their participation in INSC program. The College is thus instrumental in intellectual exchange.

In order to expand the concept of these colleges in a meaningful way, it is essential to take appropriate follow-up action after each college, viz., the organization of specialized seminars workshops and development of joint projects. Many such workshops and seminars were held and joint research work carried out as a direct follow-up activity of these colleges.

The most important factor in the success of such colleges are the speakers. e have been fortunate enough to attract scientists who were not only leaders in there respective field but were also very good communicators. We had over 570 foremost scientists drawn from universities, research centers and industries of advanced countries to lecture at INSC. The faculty has many leading lights in their fields of specialization including six Nobel laureates in addition to other renowned scientists and outstanding speakers.

The truly international character of scientific activity has been under-scored by the multinational participation in these colleges. The general atmosphere of the College reflects a true picture of international fraternity. During the last 32 years of INSC, nearly 950 foreign scientists from as many as 72 countries have participated in the proceedings of the College. INSC has served as a forum for people of different countries whose main problem is scientific isolation.

Over the years, a growing number of scientists from Asia, Africa and other continents has participated and enjoyed the benefits of a stimulating atmosphere to learn about the latest developments from the leading scientists in their fields of specialty. Asian participants have been drawn from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Burma, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand, and Yemen. A large number of participants form African countries belong to Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia, and Senegal. In addition, there has been participation from Brazil, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey.

Interaction among Pakistani scientists has been effectively promoted with over 6200 local participants, who have been drawn not only from research institutes but also from universities and colleges. Even post graduate students are invited to participate in this discourse of a high level. This link with universities and college is important since the ultimate source of technical manpower in any country is none other than the educational institutions.

It is worth mentioning here that during the 32nd Summer College in 2007 about sixteen faculty member delivered highly specialized lectures on Plasma Physics & Synchrotron Light Source to 193 foreign & local scientists and developed a strong interaction with the participant. Many of these professors especially in the field of synchrotron offered some Pakistani students to work with them. This is an extraordinary achievement towards the Human Resource Development especially for the upcoming technologies of Tokamak & Synchrotron Light Source in the country.

The idea of organizing a college on regular basis came from distinguished Nobel Laureate, Professor Abdus Salam who suggested in 1974 that an international forum for scientists from developing countries be organized to encourage greater communication and flow of ideas among them. He also offered the assistance and co-sponsorship of the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste.Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission readily accepted Professors Salam’s idea and started work for its implementation.The First College of the series was held in the summer of 1976 at Nathiagali which lent it the name. The idea proved to be a big success and the College has now evolved into an institution and become a prestigious event in the scientific calendar of this part of the world. This College is perhaps the only one of its kind to be organized in a developing country, covering a wide range of topics of science and emphasizing their applications to the contemporary needs of the society.

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