Salam Spirit Awardees Announced

The family of ICTP founder and Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam has revealed the winners of the 2018 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:

	Victor Latorre (photo: Ludovico Scrobogna, ICTP Photo Archives)
	Alberto Verjovsky (photo: Ludovico Scrobogna, ICTP Photo Archives)

Victor Latorre, Peru

Victor Latorre's influence on the development of Peruvian physics and science has been extraordinary. After earning his PhD in physics from the University of Maryland, USA, he returned to Peru, where he has enjoyed a long, successful career in promoting scientific excellence. His achievements include serving as director of the Peruvian Institute of Nuclear Energy, as well as co-founding, with Abdus Salam, the “Multiciencias” initiative to develop international cooperation and to bring foreign scientists to Peru in order to get fruitful scientific exchanges. Through his work as a professor at Peru's Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Universidad Ricardo Palma and the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco, Latorre has influenced hundreds of Peruvian science students. At ICTP, he served on the Centre's Scientific Council as its first member from South America.

Alberto Verjovsky, Mexico

Alberto Verjovsky is a mathematician who has been highly influential in the development of mathematics in Mexico. He enjoyed a close working relationship with ICTP founder Abdus Salam since his first visit to the Centre in the early 1980s. Indeed, it was he who convinced Salam that ICTP should establish a section in mathematics. Verjovsky played an important role in the section's eventual creation and coordinated its work for nearly a decade. ICTP's Mathematics section continues its fundamental role in fostering mathematics research and education for thousands of scientists, in particular for those from emerging countries, as in the spirit of Salam’s legacy. During his time at ICTP he co-organized 30 high-level scientific schools and conferences in collaboration with prestigious researchers. Verjovsky continues to visit ICTP regularly and is still passionate about ICTP's mission.

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.