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News from ICTP 88 - Monitor
The Pakistani government has issued a postage stamp featuring a picture of Abdus Salam, the founding father of ICTP. The stamp, which became available in December 1998, can be used on standard-sized letters mailed within Pakistan. The photograph was taken by Ludovico Scrobogna (see below).
Roman Jackiw delivered the 1998 Dirac Lecture on 26 March 1999 in the Main Lecture Hall of ICTP's Main Building. Jackiw, who has held the Jerrold Zacharias chair in the Department of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for 30 years, spoke on the "Effects of Dirac's Negative Energy Sea on Quantum Numbers." In addition to his long-time position at MIT, Jackiw has been a teacher and researcher at Harvard University, Rockefeller University, University of California at Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, and Columbia University. The Dirac Medal, which has been awarded annually by ICTP since 1985, is named in honour of the late Paul A.M. Dirac, one of the 20th century's most distinguished physicists and a staunch friend of the Centre. Princeton University's Stephen Adler, who shared the 1998 prize with Jackiw, will deliver his lecture at a later date.
Ludovico Scrobogna and Virgilio Zalateo have left the Centre. Although their names may not be familiar to scientists, their work certainly is. For more than a quarter century, scientists visiting the Centre have received Scrobogna's photographs as mementoes of their stay in Trieste. Meanwhile, Zalateo, also a 25-year veteran of the ICTP, has helped to put together the preprints and lecture notes associated with the Centre's scientific activities. Staff and friends wish both of them buona fortuna in their retirements.
The ICTP has been undergoing a facelift. In addition to the remodelling of the Cafeteria in the Main Building, the Main Building's interior walls have received 'plaster' surgery and a fresh coat of paint; the former Laser Laboratory in the Main Building has been remodelled into offices, training rooms and expanded computer facilities for the Scientific Computer Section; and the Informatics Laboratory on Lower Level 1 of the Adriatico Guesthouse will soon be relocated to make the facilities more comfortable and secure. In addition, rooms in the Adriatico Guesthouse have been wired to the internet and rooms in the Galileo Guesthouse will soon be connected to cyberspace as well. All these improvements are designed to make each scientist's visit to the Centre more productive and enjoyable.