African Physical Society RSS Feed

Gravitational Wave Astronomy in Africa on 31-May-12 8:00 AM

Thu, 31 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Gravitational Wave Astronomy in Africa
Start Date: 31-May-12 8:00 AM
End Time: 1-Jun-12 5:30 PM
Location: St George Hotel and Conference Centre, Rietvleidam (near Pretoria), Gauteng
Event Details:

The South African Institute of Physics (SAIP) in collaboration with international partners will be hosting a workshop to promote Gravitational Wave Astronomy in Africa.

Laser Interferometer Gravitational Observatories (LIGO, see www.ligo.org) have been operational since 2000, but at the sensitivity of the initial generation of instruments a detection was possible but not likely. Currently there are two LIGO facilities in the USA, as well as GEO and VIRGO in Europe. Construction of a detector in Japan has begun. Technology has been improving, and Advanced LIGO is scheduled to be online in 2014, although it may only be sometime later that design sensitivity is achieved. Once this happens, the most probable detection rate is many events per year. The era of gravitational wave astronomy will have arrived!

Gravitational wave astronomy is a very broad field, encompassing hardware design, pulsar timings, data analysis, use of numerical and approximate methods in general relativity, and astrophysical modelling. Internationally, research in all these fields has become a growth area, but not in South Africa and Africa. For example, the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) comprises about 850 members from around the world, but has no members from Africa. The purpose of the workshop is to introduce the research opportunities in gravitational wave astronomy to researchers and students in related disciplines such as astronomy, astrophysics, computational physics, cosmology, high performance computing, lasers, relativity, and statistics.

The workshop will cover the various aspects of gravitational wave astronomy. It will include presentations by seven international experts, as well as sessions on current activity in gravitational wave astronomy in Africa, and on funding and infrastructural needs in South Africa. The schedule allows time for informal discussion with the international speakers about collaboration possibilities.

The international speakers that have confirmed to date are

· Manuela Campanelli, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA

· Gabriela Gonzalez, Louisiana State University, USA, and Spokesperson for the LSC

· Fred Raab, Head, LIGO Hanford Observatory, USA

· Bernard Schutz, Director, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Germany

Updates will be posted on the website.

Target Audience:Academics, researchers and students in astronomy, astrophysics, computational physics, lasers, relativity, cosmology, statistics, high performance computing, geophysics and related fields.

Costs:There will be no registration fee, but delegates will need to fund the cost of travel and accommodation.

Support: The LOC has applied for funding to support needy delegates, and information will be posted on the website as and when it becomes available.

Deadline:Applications, using the form on the website, must be submitted by 20 April 2012

Local Organising Committee

· Nigel Bishop (Rhodes University) – Chairperson

· Nithaya Chetty (University of Pretoria)

· Sunil Maharaj (UKZN)

· Denis Pollney (Rhodes University)

· Patrick Woudt (UCT)

· Brian Masara (SAIP)

International Scientific Advisory Committee

· Manuela Campanelli, ( Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, USA)

· Badri Krishnan (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Potsdam, Germany)

· Ilya Mandel ( University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK)

· Fred Raab ( LIGO Hanford Observatory, Richland, Washington, USA)

Conference Website: http://indico.saip.org.za/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=20

Contact Email: gwa2012@saip.org.za

St George Hotel and Conference Centre

58 Doornkloof, Goede Hoop Avenue, M57

Rietvleidam (near Pretoria), Gauteng South Africa

ASP2012, Second Biennial African School on Fundamental Physics and its Applications on 15-Jul-12 8:30 AM

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 14:30:00 GMT

ASP2012, Second Biennial African School on Fundamental Physics and its Applications
Start Date: 15-Jul-12 8:30 AM
End Time: 8-Aug-12 5:30 PM
Location: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana
Event Details:

Dear Colleagues:

In partnership with the African Physical Society, we would like to inform you about the 2012 African School on Fundamental Physics and its Applications, ASP2012. Details can be found at:

https://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1400680

The school will be held on 15 July - 4 August 2012 at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana. In connection with ASP2012, a Grid Computing school will follow on August 6-8, 2012.

Regards,
The International Organizing Committee:
B. Acharya, K. A. Assamagan, C. Darve, J. Ellis, and S. Muanza

ASP2012-IOC@CERN.CH

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana

KNUST

Kumasi, Ghana

Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers in East Africa on 5-Nov-12 8:30 AM

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:30:00 GMT

Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers in East Africa
Start Date: 5-Nov-12 8:30 AM
End Time: 9-Nov-12 5:30 PM
Location: Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Event Details:

Addis Ababa University and the Institute of Physics (IOP) are jointly organising the 2012 workshop “Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers in East Africa” to be held at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia from 5 to 9 November. This one-week intensive workshop is designed for scientists and engineers from different parts of East Africa who are interested in learning entrepreneurial skills to commercialise their scientific inventions. Participants will benefit from the international perspective and profitable insights of leading experts and fellow delegates from the East Africa region and the rest of the world.

PURPOSES AND NATURE

The purpose of this workshop is to introduce scientists and engineers in the region to the process of innovation, generation and protection of intellectual property, technology transfer and commercialisation of inventions. The workshop will consist of lectures by invited speakers, case studies, group discussions and role-playing sessions related to the commercialisation of products.

TOPICS COVERED

Scientists and Engineers as Entrepreneurs; Opportunity and Value Assessment; Intellectual Property; Basics of Patenting; IP Management and Global IP Protection; Business Plan Fundamentals, Technology Readiness Levels, Invention to Product: Timelines and Processes; Case Studies and Group Projects.

PARTICIPATION

Scientists and students throughout the East Africa region are welcome to attend the workshop. As sessions and talks will be conducted in English, participants should have a good working knowledge of the language. Although the main purpose of the workshop is to help young scientists and engineers, aspiring students are also welcome to apply. Limited travel funds are available for some participants to be selected by the organisers. There is no registration fee.

APPLICATION DEADLINE

5 May 2012

Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

Physics & Astronomy News

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT

Considering an Alternative Fuel for Nuclear Energy
from The New York Times

Is Thorium ready to be an alternative to Uranium

. Full Article

Quantum Computers Could Tackle Enormous Linear Equations
from U.S. News & World Report
New result published in Physical Review Letter may dramatically expand the range of potential uses for quantum computers. Full Article

25-Aug-09 11:00 AM

IOP Pledges 10,000 to the African Physical Society

noemail@africanphysicalsociety.org — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:00:00 GMT

The United Kingdom's Institute of Physics (IOP) has agreed to provide total of £10,000 towards the launch meeting of the African Physical Society. The funds will help fund either registration or travel costs to help representatives of other African physical societies, or physicists from countries who do not have an existing society, to attend the launch meeting.

On November 14, 2009 the South African Institute of Physics and IOP convened a historic meeting in Cape Town, South Africa of many if not most of the existing national physics societies in Africa, e.g., the Cameroon Physical Society, the Ghana Institute of Physics, the Nigerian Institute of Physics, and the Tunisian Physical Society. Representatives from Senegal, Botswana, Algeria, Lesotho, Kenya, Zimbabwe and several others were also in attendance.

At this meeting there was strong and enthusiastic support for the formation of the African Physical Society as a Pan-African professional association of physicists, and as a networking medium and advocate for physics in Africa, reaffirming the decisions made at the 2007 EBASI meeting in Cape Town.

3x Senior Astronomers - SKA Africa

Thu, 17 May 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Title: 3x Senior Astronomers - SKA Africa Description: The South African SKA Project (SKA SA) is a project of the Department of Science and Technology, administered by the National Research Foundation. SKA SA is responsible for South Africa's bid to host the Square Kilometre Array Radio Telescope, the design and construction of the Karoo Array Radio Telescope (MeerKAT) and the development of high-level capacity in radio astronomy and the engineering disciplines relevant to radio astronomy. The MeerKAT site also hosts the Precision Array For Probing The Epoch Of Reionization (PAPER) instrument, as well as the C-band All-Sky Survey (C-BASS) South instrument. SKA SA is looking to appoint 3 x Senior Astronomers for the Radio Astronomy Research Group (RARG). RARG has been established with the aim of embedding world-class radio astronomy expertise within the MeerKAT project and promoting collaboration with major observatories and institutions...

Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers in East Africa

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Title: Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers in East Africa Description: Addis Ababa University and the Institute of Physics (IOP) are jointly organising the 2012 workshop Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers in East Africa to be held at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia from 5 to 9 November. This one-week intensive workshop is designed for scientists and engineers from different parts of East Africa who are interested in learning entrepreneurial skills to commercialise their scientific inventions. Participants will benefit from the international perspective and profitable insights of leading experts and fellow delegates from the East Africa region and the rest of the world. PURPOSES AND NATURE The purpose of this workshop is to introduce scientists and engineers in the region to the process of innovation, generation and protection of intellectual property, technology transfer and commercialisation of inventions. The workshop will consist...

Visiting Professor

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Title: Visiting Professor Description: The African University of Science and Technology in Abuja (AUST – Abuja) was established by the Nelson Mandela Institution (NMI) in 2007 as the first of a Pan-African Network of Institutes of Science and Technology and Centers of Excellence to be located across the African continent, www.AUST-abuja.org. AUST Abuja, accredited by the Nigerian Universities Commission in December 2007, intends to become a world class research-oriented institution with the ultimate goal of training and developing the next generation of talented African Scientists and Engineers who can profoundly impact the continent’s socio-economic development through excellence in science and technology research and development. AUST is an independent, not-for-profit university with a transparent governance system whose parent, NMI, is a private charity incorporated in the USA. Strong partnerships have already been established with the African Institute of Mathematical...

**Home Page - Dakar Meeting Content

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:18:58 GMT

Second Biennial African School on Fundamental Physics and its Applications

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:17:41 GMT

The Second Biennial African School on Fundamental Physics and its Applications will be held from 15 July - 4 August, 2012 at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana.

The aim of the school is to build capacity to harvest, interpret, and exploit the results of current and future physics experiments with particle accelerators, and to increase proficiency in related applications and technologies. The school will be based on a close interplay between theoretical, experimental, and applied physics.

Organization of the African Physical Society

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 17:26:47 GMT

Secretariat P. O. Box 197 Legon-Accra Ghana Telephone: +233-21-501360 Fax: +233-21-501965 contact Officers There are currently 4 officers of the African Physical Society President Professor Francis Allotey Ghana Vice-President Professor Ahmadou Wague Senegal Vice-President Professor Paul Woafo Cameroon Secretary-Treasurer Professor John Adedoyin Botswana Executive Council There is a central executive council made of at-large representatives of each of the following regions English-speaking West Africa French-speaking West Africa East Africa Central Africa North Africa ...

Links

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 05:34:19 GMT

African Association of Physics Students African Astronomical Society African Geospace Society African Journal of Mathematical Physics African Laser Center African Materials Research Society Association of Physics Educators (Mauritius) Association des Professeurs de Physique et de Chimie du Senegal Astronomical Society of Southern Africa Astronomy in Africa Cameroon Physical Society Egyptian Materials Research Society e-Physics for Africa LAM Network Moroccan Society of Statistical Physics Moroccan Journal of Condensed Matter Next Einstein Nigerian Institute of Physics Nigerian Journal of Physics Kenya Physical Society Kenya Astronomical Society PhysLink.com PhysNet South African Association for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics South African Association of Physicists in Medicine and Biology South African Geophysical...

About the African Physical Society

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:07:12 GMT

What is the African Physical Society? The African Physical Society is a non-governmental professional association legally incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Ghana, along with the African Association of Physics Students as a subsidiary organization. It provides a forum to bring together for the purposes of networking, collaboration, and advocacy, all the existing national physical societies, e.g., the Ghana Institute of Physics, Cameroon Physical Society, South African Institute of Physics, Kenya Physical Society. In addition to supporting the existing societies, the African Physical Society endeavors to support and represent physicists and physics students working and studying in countries that do not have a national physical society. It hopes to catalyze the creation of more national physical societies. As an advocate for physics across the continent, the African Physical Society endeavors to increase the resources for physics training and research...

AfPS Membership Information

Thu, 27 May 2010 22:05:22 GMT

There are three types of membership in the African Physical Society

National Physics Societies - We invite all physics and physics-related on the continent to become organizational member societies of the African Physical Society. All organizational member societies are entitled to representation on the AfPS executive council. All individual members of organizational member societies are automatically individual members of the African Physical Society.

Individual Members - Individuals, especially physicists and astronomers working in countries that have no national physics society, are eligible for direct membership in the African Physical Society.

Members of the African Association of Physics Students (AAPS) - We encourage all university physics and astronomy students to become members of AAPS. AAPS members are automatically members of the African Physical Society.

Institutional/Corporate Members - We invite physics departments, research institutes, and corporations as institutional/corporate members.

International Associate Members - Through various reciprocal agreements we invite members of non-African physics and physics-related societies as members of the African Physical Society.

Honorary Members - Honorary members are elected by the executive council of the African Physical Society.

Join the African Physical Society Now

ICTP-African Physical Society Conference on Developing Countries Vulnerability to Climate Change

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 22:21:35 GMT

ICTP-AFRICA CONFERENCE ON DEVELOPING COUNTRIES VULNERABILITY TO CLIMATE CHANGE UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA, GABORONE, BOTSWANA 19-23 APRIL 2010 VENUE: UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA LIBRARY AUDITORIUM SCHEDULE OF SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME MONDAY 19 APRIL 2010 TIME ACTIVITY/SPEAKER TOPIC 0800-0900 REGISTRATION 0900-1030 OPENING CEREMONY 1030-1100 BREAK SESSION 1 1100-1130 GEORGE PHILANDER An African Perspective on Global warming 1130-1200 ...

SKA Resolution of the African Physical Society

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:27:39 GMT

What is SKA? The Square Kilometer Array (SKA) will be by far the largest radio telescope in the world. The physical extent of the entire telescope is more than 3,000 kilometers, with an estimated construction cost of $2.23 billion. SKA will contribute to answering the most fundamental questions in physics, including the nature of dark energy and dark matter. Both Africa and Australia are vying to host the project. Resolution: The African Physical Society unequivocally endorses the siting of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in Africa. Justification: SKA will foster immense economic growth, and growth in science and technology on the African continent. · It would be an engine for human capacity and economic development throughout the African continent. · In terms of global economic development, the SKA project would have much greater impact if it were built in Africa, with its large population density. · SKA will drive the development of internet...

Physics & Astronomy News

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:49:09 GMT

Considering an Alternative Fuel for Nuclear Energy from The New York Times Is Thorium ready to be an alternative to Uranium Full article Quantum Computers Could Tackle Enormous Linear Equations from U.S. News & World Report New result published in Physical Review Letter may dramatically expand the range of potential uses for quantum computers. Full article Is African Making Progress on Science Spending? from SciDev Net After 2006's commitment to one per cent GDP spending on science, is Africa keeping up, falling behind or investing. Full article Quantum 'trampoline' to test gravity from New Scientist Magazine Bouncing atoms with lasers could make ultra-precise measurements of gravity. Full article CERN's Large Hadron Collider makes first collisions From BBC News Atom smasher online after months of repairs Full article Astronomy in South Africa is thriving From IOL News South Africa's achievements in astronomy can help the country overcome...

Membership in the African Association of Physics Students

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:48:30 GMT

We encourage all university physics and astronomy students to become members of AAPS. AAPS members are automatically members of the African Physical Society.

The membership of the African Association of Physics Students (aaps) is open to Physics students enrolled at a university, up to and including Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) level or equivalent, as well as up to twelve months after receiving a degree from a university.

Honorary membership are also open to persons who agree with the aims of the aaps and have considerably helped the Association to fulfil its aims, and are elected in accordance with the aaps charter and regulations.

Join African Association of Physics Students now

Survey of African Physics Departments

noemail@africanphysicalsociety.org — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 20:00:00 GMT

Objectives:

The goal of this survey is to get more information on the state of physics on the African continent.

Release Date: 21-Sep-10 2:00 PM
Expiration Date: 20-Dec-10 2:00 PM

Please answer all questions as indicated.

African Astronomical Society

noemail@africanphysicalsociety.org — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Objectives:

The objective of this survey is to collect the opinions of African astronomers on the topic of the formation of an African Astronomical Society.

The purpose of this new organization would be to organize and network the community of African research astronomers, to advocate for more resources for astronomy research, to grow the number of African astronomers doing research at Africa-based telescopes, and to better bridge the African astronomy community to the global astronomical research community.

Release Date: 30-Dec-09 6:00 AM
Expiration Date: 30-Mar-10 6:00 AM
This short survey consist of 4 short questions plus a place where you can submit your open-ended comments.

Lorem ipsum

2009-08-25T17:51:31Z

Instructor: Instructor

Lorem ipsum