ICTP Public Event Highlights International Cooperation

As part of an ongoing "Year of Italian Culture in Hungary and of Hungarian Culture in Italy" promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ICTP hosted a public science lecture during its 38th Conference of the Middle European Cooperation in Statistical Physics, which is being held from 25 to 27 March in Trieste. More than 100 scientists, primarily from central and eastern European countries, are attending the conference.

Italy and Hungary are world leaders in the field of complex systems, and two of the most prominent scientists in the field delivered lectures: Tamás Vicsek of Eötvös University, Hungary, and Saverio Pascazio of the University of Bari, Italy. Their talks, which focused on the past, present and future of this rapidly evolving discipline, highlighted the important contributions of Italian and Hungarian scientists to the statistical physics of complex networks and disordered systems. 

Tamás Vicsek has been involved in computational and experimental research on fractals, pattern formation, granular materials, collective motion (bacterial colonies, flocks, crowds) and the structure and evolution of complex networks.

Saverio Pascazio researches quantum information, irreversibility and statistical fluctuations, decoherence and its control, quantum simulations, entanglement, complexity and the temporal behaviour of quantum and classical systems.

The event was organized in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Budapest, Hungary.