![]() That mentorship had career-long ripple effects for Gates. "Salam was one of my idols," says Gates, "someone who laid the groundwork for my work." His idol invited him to lunch after his talk, and that visit proved to be the first of many, including five consecutive summers at ICTP. Gates is now the President of the American Physical Society and Director of the Brown Theoretical Physics Center as well as the Ford Foundation Professor of Physics & Affiliate Professor of Mathematics at Brown University in Providence, USA.īack in 1979, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, after writing MIT’s first doctoral dissertation on supersymmetry, when he was invited to a conference at ICTP by Salam. Gates spoke about just that, with a talk on August 23 entitled " Diversity and Barriers in Science," as part of the 30th Anniversary Celebrations for the ICTP Diploma Programme. ![]() "Salam set a certain direction in my life outside of studying superfields, the mathematical construction he pioneered along with John Strathdee," Gates remembers, "and it had to do with diversity." "He was a true mentor to me," says Gates, recalling the five summers he spent as a young scientist at ICTP. A distinguished physicist and a world-leading expert in supersymmetry, supergravity, and superstring theory, Gates points to the mentorship of ICTP Founder Abdus Salam as hugely formative and influential for him. ![]() But individual connections are just as important, as Sylvester James Gates, Jr. Systems can greatly affect individuals, shaping scientific careers through access, or lack thereof, to education, jobs, or funding.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |