OVERVIEW OF THE TRIESTE SYSTEM

Transcription

1 OVERVIEW OF THE TRIESTE SYSTEM Origin and perspectives P. Budinich Honourable Authorities, Dear Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is an honour and a pleasure for me to address you for this overview of the Trieste System in my capacity as one of the few surviving witnesses of the events which, in the early 60s, brought it to existence. When dealing with the history of the Trieste System one question which often arises is: how is it that Trieste, historically known as the commercial harbour of Central Europe, has, in a few decades, been recognised worldwide as the "City of Science" especially devoted to the benefit of the Third World? The answer is that this metamorphosis was one of the few non negative results of the last World War which left Trieste with a difficult state border, called at that time the "Iron Curtain", a few kilometres from the city ; a border which was generating in the region all sorts of devastating and cruel nationalistic movements. We from the University felt that it was our duty to try to remedy these with the only means at our disposal: that of scientific culture which, by its very nature, is international and able to create links of mutual understanding between people of all nations. Coherently we started to organise meetings and to create channels of cultural collaborations with our colleagues in European universities. In june1961 the brilliant Pakistani physicist Abdus Salam, Professor at Imperial College in London, was in Trieste for one of those meetings. Later that year, he, as a member of the Pakistani delegation, proposed to the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, the creation of an International Centre for Physics aimed at becoming a forum for peaceful scientific collaborations between all scientists, both from East and West and from North and South. It was natural for us to propose, in friendly agreement with him, the candidature of Trieste, for that Center.

2 There followed 3 years of difficult diplomatic battles. While Italy and the smaller European nations as well as the delegations from all developing countries were in favour of the project, it was opposed by most of the rich nations. Finally, however, the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), under the auspices of IAEA and later UNESCO, was created in Trieste in 1964 under the direction of Abdus Salam. Because of the events which led to its creation, the first point in the ICTP statute states that it has to help developing countries to maintain and foster their own scientific communities. The creation of ICTP was due not only to the enthusiastic support of the developing countries, guided by Abdus Salam, as well as of the world scientific community but also to the energetic action of Italy which at that time mobilised its diplomacy and afterwards steadily sustained and still sustains financially the ICTP. Locally the actions were accompanied by the support of the city and of the University which created the Consortium which was instrumental for the setting up of ICTP and which has recently issued a documentary book with the history of those years which will be presented to you by its Director, Professor Franco Bradamante. Also because of the support of the world scientific community-almost all Nobel Laureates in Physics came to ICTP during those first years to help in the enterprise-the ICTP soon became a high level, world wide visible research Centre. In 1979 Abdus Salam was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. The high level scientific atmosphere created by ICTP made it natural and easy to bring to Trieste other scientific enterprises like the Area Science Park (in 1981), the International School for Advanced Studies (in 1978), the Elettra Synchrotron Laboratory (in 1993), some of them specially devoted, like the ICTP, to the benefit of the developing communities. Among these, the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) (in 1983), which since 2000 has been hosting the prestigious InterAcademy Panel for International Issues (IAP). The International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) with a sister Centre in New Delhi (in 1983) the Immaginary Scientific Laboratory (LIS) (in 1986) performing a Science and Technology Literaly programme for Africa (SLATE) and the International Centre for Sciences and High Technology (ICS) (in 1988) as part of

3 UNIDO. This group of scientific Institutions born in Trieste, as a follow up to the creation of the ICTP, constitute, together with others and with the University, what is known today as the Trieste System (T.S.), which is in good part supported by the Italian Government. Italy is receiving increasing credit for the actions of the T.S., as it clearly appeared during the recent visits of the Italian President Ciampi to Tunisia and South Africa where he was accompanied by a delegation of the T.S. Since 1964 ICTP, and afterwards TWAS, ICGEB, ICS, have developed and experimented unique instruments like the Associates and the Federation and Affiliation Schemes which have helped scientists in developing countries to overcome the tremendous difficulties of isolation and emargination they face, to help them to fight against the deleterious brain drain, to restore their often offended dignity and to transmit to them the courage and means of providing for the education of the younger generations and maintaining and developing their own scientific communities as a necessary prerequisite for social cultural and economical emancipation. These instruments, together with the hundreds of effective channels of both North-South and South-South collaboration which have been created, are now, especially after 11 September 2001, recognised as exemplary and effective for contributing to the elimination in the South of the zones of excessive misery, humiliation and anger where terrorism may find both its source and fertile ground for expansion. Of these recognitions there are several evident signs; among these I will mention only some. 1.TWAS and IAP together with ICSU were asked to organise and direct the Science Forum in the Johannesburg Conference which took place last August from which clearly emerged the effective role of the instrument developed by the Trieste System in the urgent need of social, cultural and economical emancipation of the South. 2.In the United Nations both the Secretariat and the Group of 77 (G77) are taking steps in order to try to valorise and extend the work done by the T.S. for the Third World, in particular the G77 is organizing for the end of october a large Conference in Dubai on

4 Science and Tecnology for the Third Word in which the T.S. will be present with an exibition organized by LIS. 3.The ICGEB has been officialy nominated as a consultative organ of U.N. in mather concerning Genetic engeneering, Biotecnology and Genomics. 4.The World Bank has recently entrusted TWAS together with IAP and ICSU with a fund of 12 million dollars for organizing research sessions on the Climate. 5.In the United States, Harvard University is holding study meetings on "Science in the South", together with TWAS in Trieste where it has a permanent representative since last July. 6.Together with TWAS and IAP, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences is organising in March 2003 in Trieste a Workshop in conjunction with the Science Academies of Islamic countries to discuss, among other things, the problem of eradication of the sources of Terrorism. They also have under study a project for the creation in Trieste of a Centre for Communication for the Third World. 7. In 2000 the InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP) was created which includes besides Academies, also Institutes, of Medicine. The secretariat of IAMP is at present seated in the prestigeous U.S. National Institute of Medicine in Washington D.C. In order to encrease the efficiency of IAP and IAMP there is now a project of transfer the secretariate of IAMP from Washington to Trieste, to be hosted by TWAS 8. The Comission of U.E. has manifested strong interest for the action of the T.S. specially for those in Africa.

5 These first recognitions, based on the evidence of concrete results obtained and on the testimony of the many thousands of scientists in the South who have benefitted from the enterprise ( only at ICTP) may open new and promising perspectives to the Trieste System. In particular that it may be taken as a model to be reproduced and disseminated with the joint help and support of both the U.N., USA and the E.U. by means of a larger and more effective enterprise, eventually ending up with the creation of a well distributed network, which could effectively contribute to the elimination of the huge gap between North and South which is both anachronistic in a globalised world and a steady source of disasters both in the South and in the North of the planet. The instruments for performing such a unique good service to the world are there and ready to be used; what is needed is only wisdom and good will.