ICTS

Michael Francis Atiyah, one of the most significant mathematicians of the 20th century, passed away on January 11, 2019. He strongly supported the idea of creating the ICTS and played an important role in its establishment. He was a member of its International Advisory Board from inception till his passing away. In the eighth issue of ICTS News, we pay homage to the life of this great mathematician, by remembering him personally as well as through his greatest work – the Atiyah-Singer index theorem.

How can public funding of world-class scientific research be justified in the Indian context? What are the key benefits of curiosity-driven research, and the resultant scientific culture, to a country like India? Can we quantitatively model the growth of the Indian scientific community and its impact on our country? In the seventh issue of ICTS News we take a break from our usual fare of articles on recent advances in science to address these important questions. 

In our first issue of 2018, we present a collage of celebrations to mark the tenth anniversary of ICTS-TIFR. We pay tribute to the life of Stephen Hawking and remember his science. We study quantum entanglement and the geometry of spacetime. We will pursue questions such as what is LIGO, what are gravitational waves and why was a Nobel Prize given for their observation.

In this issue, we learn about black holes and the reversibility of time. We also understand large deviations in statistical physics. We talk to K. Narain about string theory, ICTP and Abdus Salam. We also present excerpts from a discussion with string theorist Andy Strominger about his work

In our first issue of 2017, we understand the implications of global climate change. We talk to Freeman Dyson on what he sees as positive signs and J. Srinivasan on how climate change will hurt many more. We learn about the unusual behavior of clouds as well as the intermittent nature of turbulent flows. We also present excerpts from a discussion with Spenta Wadia about constructing science and institutions. 

In our third issue, we understand how quantum spin liquids could well occupy the centre-stage of research in theoretical physics in the near future, learn about quantum computers, interact with Juan Maldacena to know his journey from the beginning and his views on how ICTS can play a crucial role. We also learn how LIGO-India came up and Chudnovsky's contributions to graph theory.

In our second issue, the first in 2016, we highlight the spectacular discovery of gravitational waves, learn about the speculation around a new particle found at CERN. We also get introduced to the interesting work done by the NICE group at NCBS.

In this inaugural issue, we look back at ‘Science at ICTS’, the campus inauguration day and Strings 2015, which celebrated 100 years of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. We also learn about gravitational wave astronomy and the proposed LIGO-India project, as well as data assimilation in the earth sciences.