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ICTP Associate Wins Top African Science Honours

Kofané Timoléon Crépin awarded African Union Kwame Nkrumah Prize
ICTP Associate Wins Top African Science Honours

Kofané Timoléon Crépin, an ICTP Senior Associate and head of the physics department in the University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon, has received the 2014 Kwame Nkrumah Continental Scientific Award, the African Union's top science prize. The award ceremony took place on 31 January 2015 during the 24th Session of the African Union Assembly at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Instituted by the African Union Commission, the award recognizes Kofané's contributions and achievements in the areas of basic sciences, technology and innovation.

Kofané collaborates with ICTP's Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics section. His research focusses on nonlinear dynamics (including applications in biophysics), complex systems, solution theory, chaos theory, and mechanics. His work in quantum magnets and, more recently, spin dynamics of ferromagnets is considered particularly important.

Kofané is also one of the protagonists of the recent documentary "From Theory to Reality: ICTP at 50”, which looks at the positive impact ICTP has had on the lives of researchers from developing countries. "There is not science for developed countries or science for poor countries: science is science," Kofané  says in the documentary. "I think what we need in Africa is people doing science. Good science."

Kofané strives to do good science in his home country, Cameroon, not only by focussing on his research work but also by building science networks and raising the level of science publications in Africa. Author of more than 100 papers, Kofané recognises the importance of publishing in respected journals and hopes to raise the international ranking of African publications, which is currently very low. In his efforts to build science networks and be in tune with the latest developments, Kofané  has encouraged his students, post-docs, and colleagues to visit ICTP; as of 2014, more than  600 scientists from Cameroon have travelled to Trieste for training, workshops and research.

Excerpts from the documentary featuring Kofané are available on the ICTP Youtube channel.

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