The African School of Physics began in 2010. Our students come from all over Africa. From the founders to the students to the lecturers – we are all physicists passionate about science!

This year we have approximately 60 students from all over Africa (plus an Iranian and an American I’m probably forgetting someone) here for three weeks being introduced to everything from the Standard Model of Particle Physics to Cosmology to Particle Detectors to Accelerator physics to Scientific Computing to Medical Physics and much more .

It is my second time at the ASP, so I am enjoying a somewhat familiarity advantage and finding it rather interesting as the personalities of the other students unfold! I don’t think there’s a better congregation to attend than that of impressionable intelligent aspiring physicist and what I think are gods of physics. We must sincerely thank the master minds behind the initiation of this school.

Je voulais aller à l’ASP pour deux raisons principalement. D’abord je voulais voir un tableau plus complet de la physique des particules que celui qui est vu au CERN. Là le labo est dominé par les deux grandes expériences (CMS et ATLAS), alors il y a beaucoup des experts, des collègues, et des présentations sur les analyses variés, le fonctionnement du détecteur, l’utilisation des données prises par le détecteur, et même de la phénoménologie.

It is my first time to attend the ASP, from day one I had the privilege to listen as presenters gave various explanations to different physical phenomena. Today, I especially enjoyed the talk by Christoph on Hadro production and also Mathieu’s talk on Astroparticle physics. These topics have always fascinated me. It is really wonderful to listen and learn from the intelligent questions being asked by the participant and the lecturers are always willing to answer at all time.

Mon intérêt est bien sur, pour ceux qui me connaisse braqué vers la physique théorique, mon centre d’intérêt, notamment, la Physique des particules.

Je suis Ivan Kikunga Kasenda, je suis physicien du Congo (Kinshasa), je vis et habite à Kinshasa, la capitale de la R.D. Congo. Je m’intéresse à la Physique théorique.

Je m’appelle Diallo Mamadou Salif du Sénégal, j’ai fait la physique à l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) de Dakar, j’ai fait mon master sur la mécanique des fluides et applications au département de physique à l’UCAD.

Medical physics is central to the treatment of “cancer” with different types of radiation, from X-rays, protons and heavy ions to ultrasound, and medical imaging techniques which ranges from basic X-ray exposures to advanced modalities like positron emission tomography.

I am confident that the knowledge and skills we shall acquire for this school will be crucial as we work to realize ours aspirations. According to this week, I have been happy to see some fundamental connections between formal theoritical physics and applied physics. Certainly we have seen a lot of things but I just want to talk about big bang theory and Inflation in theory.

There is excitement in the air and many good conversation beginning already. Representatives from CERN and Fermilab are speaking along with representatives from the UCAD digital library project and distinguished Senegalese professors.

I was lucky enough to participate in this second week in two ways: both in helping to design the lecture program and contributing two lectures. We had lectures on a wide range of topics from statistical techniques, through b-physics to neutrinos and physics beyond the Standard Model. It was definitely exciting seeing the program that we had designed coming to life!

Over the world over, scientists are known to be a rather ‘queer’ breed. They come in all flavors- from the quiet and reserved type to ever charming and outgoing crop able to sustain a `live’ audience even in a three hour after-lunch technical presentation. They (scientists)- well most of the time- never always disappoint and the second week of the ASP Senegal was no exception!

I am Kossi from Togo one the sixty participants to the African School of Fundamental Physics and its Applications (ASP2014) school organized at UCAD . I will say I am very glad to meet this experienced of lecturers (From CERN, Fermilab, Jefferson Lab and Universities) sharing their research work and experiences with all the young African scientists from sixteen African countries.

Ensuite, nous étions tous réunis dans la salle de conférence, étudiants et comité d’organisation, en présence des personalitès de très haut niveau intellectuel et de grand impact dans le domaine des sciences. C’était l’occasion idéale pour échanger les savoirs, s’exprimer librement et surtout entendre le discours du M.Touré le sécrétaire général de l’UIT avec ses mots inspirants qui révélent beaucoup de confiance en les jeunes scientifiques Africains.

Je félicite le comité de l’ASP 2014 pour la selection de ces 69 étudiants africains et d’ailleurs ( Iran et USA), ces félicitations ne se limitent pas seulement à leurs capacités intellectuelles ( qualités qui ne sont meme pas à remettre en cause) mais surtout à leurs capacités sociales, oui, pendant ces trois semaines nous avons intérragit scientifiquement et amicalement.

Wow what an incredible three weeks!! Getting to know everyone(students mostly) has been the most exciting part of this school. Mostly because as youth we are so full of ideas and so much zeal! It’s always very inspiring to be surrounded by this much brain activity, so many ideas and so many hard questions concerning the future of this continent.

It was such a remarkable experience, being with scientists of great mind. These three weeks have come to an abrupt end, ... like in a tinkle of an eye. The scientific skills that we have acquired and the inspiration felt has encouraged us to move forward in our fields. Hmmmmm......what more can I say?, it was full of excitement, meeting wonderful people and relating with them as if we have known each other for a long time.... i think the pictures can give you a little glimpse of it all....

It is a great pleasure to have been selected to attend this school, to get the chance to be surrounded by these great lecturers and these active and supportive students. It’s actually nice to meet people from different countries with different cultures. ASP2016 has not only helped me academically but also helped me sociologically.

Grid computing was added as a component of the ASP in Ghana two years ago and we are glad to see that it has become a valuable addition to the school program. As in 2012, my institution, Louisiana Tech University,joined with other DOSAR institutions UT-Arlington (UTA), the University of Oklahoma (OU), the University of Kansas (KU), and the Open Science Grid (OSG), to put together exercises for ASP2014.

In most countries and universities, a Physics curriculum includes a compulsory course (usually in the third year) on particle physics. This is often not available in Africa, given the lack of research in this field. This school tries to partially fill this gap.

It was Saturday, but ASP did not take a day off! A break from classes gave the students and lecturers an opportunity to interact with members of civil society, government, and the community. The morning began with a Quarknet led masterclass for high school teachers on particle physics and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. This was the second and final day of the masterclass, and the teachers got to participate in a CMS virtual visit (you can also take an ATLAS virtual visit). They then participated in a dry run of exercises they could do with their students in…

I believe ASP has a lot to teach the rest of the scientific community about the art of living together in peace with one another. I will go back to my country with a lot of encouragement knowing full aware that the international scientific community think well of us and we are very eager to also to join this marvelous profession.

I am a member of the operations team for the Open Science Grid and I currently work at Indiana University. I arrived as a part of a teaching team from the Distributed Organization for Scientific and Academic Research (DOSAR). My portion of the school was built to show and teach students the concepts of grid computing. I cannot thank the staff and students enough for such a wonderful time that I experienced in the beautiful country of Rwanda.

My name is Maluba Vernon Chisapi, a PhD candidate at Stellenbosch University/iThemba LABS, Cape Town South Africa. This year I have the privilege of attending the African School of Fundamental Physics and Applications, hosted by the University of Namibia (UNAM) and Namibia University of Science and Technology in Windhoek, the capital of the beautiful country Namibia. So if you do not know exactly what this school is all about, I will give you a snippet (& I mean just that, a snippet!) of what it is.

For ASP2018, we organized several concurrent events: on top of the school for the graduate students, there was the first “African Conference of Physics”, a workshop for the high school teachers and outreach to secondary school pupils.

With the third edition of the African School of Fundamental Physics 2014 coming to an end in just two days, and the over 60 brightest young African students and the distinguished invited lecturers planning to return to their home institutions, there were, in this year’s school, some outstanding young women scientists who stood out and are worth taking out for lunch!

From a young age, Yves Kini has been passionate about physics. But growing up in Burkina Faso in West Africa, he was a more than 600-mile drive from the nearest fundamental physics program at the University of Ghana. He learned from books and documentaries instead. But attending the African School of Fundamental Physics and Applications in Namibia in 2018, he discovered a different world, meeting role models and peers who shared his interests.

“You see people actually like you who actually like what you’re doing. It’s like heaven, man.”

ASP has opened my mind in so many ways; academically, socially, morally, just to name a few. I met students coming from approximately 29 countries from Africa and a student from the US, as well as lecturers from all over the world and from famous scientific laboratories. Due to this multitude of people, I learned more about other cultures, religions, and beliefs and I now have a diverse mind about happenings worldwide. Full article can be found here: https://africanschoolofphysics.blogspot.com/2016/08/a-namibian-in-rwanda.html  

The primary goal of the conference was to attract ASP alumni to return and present on their scientific work — and additionally to expose current students to the contemporary format of scientific information exchange and debate that is the research conference. Full article can be found here: https://africanschoolofphysics.blogspot.com/2018/08/acp-2018-conference-in-namibia.html