Cape Town - A PHD student at UWC has been selected to attend a global conference in Germany with 70 Nobel Prize-winning scientists and some of the world’s most promising young scientists.
Astrophysics student Didam Duniya will be attending this year’s Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, where up-and-coming young scientists have the opportunity to interact with Nobel laureates, from June 28 to July 3.
In a press statement on Monday, the university said Duniya had been nominated to attend the conference by the Robert Bosch Stiftung in Germany and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences.
Attendance at the meeting is by invitation only.
Duniya is working on the effects of Einstein’s theory of general relativity in galaxy surveys, under the supervision of UWC physics professor Roy Maartens, who holds the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) research chair.
Upcoming surveys with the MeerKAT telescope and the SKA, which when completed will be the largest telescope in the southern hemisphere, will be able to detect the effects that Duniya is working on and will consequently test Einstein’s theory on the largest scales in the universe.
Duniya said he felt privileged to have been selected from many young scientists across the world to attend the prestigious “once in a lifetime forum”.
“This trip isn’t just about me. What’s important is what my selection shows: progress in science at UWC and in Africa as a whole. It is my sincere hope that this will inspire young scientists at UWC and across Africa to work harder and aim to be among the world’s top-ranking researchers. I believe the sky will be our limit, and the sky is limitless.”
Maartens said Duniya and others like him showed Africa’s potential for advanced research in astrophysics. “Africa is not only building and hosting the SKA, it is also producing a new generation of researchers who can use the SKA to discover new things about our universe.”
Cape Argus