Joining Forces to Unify Nature and to Unite the World
Room 103, Lecture Hall Complex, IISER Pune campus
PUBLIC LECTURE by Dr Atish Dabholkar, Director of ICTP, Trieste, Italy
Title: Joining Forces to Unify Nature and to Unite the World
Date: Monday, February 16, 2026
Time: 06:00 PM onwards
Venue: Room 103, Lecture Hall Complex, IISER Pune campus
About the speaker:
Dr. Atish Dabholkar is the Director of ICTP and holds the rank of Assistant Director-General at UNESCO. He is a renowned theoretical physicist known for his work in string theory and quantum black holes, building on the legacy of Nobel laureate Abdus Salam. An IIT Kanpur alumnus, he earned his PhD from Princeton University and has held academic and research positions at leading institutions, including TIFR Mumbai, Harvard, Caltech, Stanford, CERN, and CNRS–Sorbonne Université. He joined ICTP in 2014 and previously headed its High Energy, Cosmology, and Astroparticle Physics section. His achievements have been recognised with prestigious honours such as the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award and France’s Chaire d’Excellence, and he is a fellow of major national and international science academies.
Abstract:
The lecture will crisscross between two themes of unification of fundamental interactions and global collaboration for science, with the following focus:
Unification of Forces: The remarkably simple and precise current understanding of all fundamental forces of nature, from gravity to nuclear interactions. The powerful idea of joining all forces to describe diverse phenomena, from electricity, magnetism, light, or radioactivity in a unified framework.
Science without Borders: The importance of fundamental science for development and the role of centres like the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste to make advanced science globally available and to promote international cooperation through science. The complementary visions of Homi Bhabha and Abdus Salam for building strong scientific communities in the developing world.
Vistas from a Science Frontier: The ongoing quest towards unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity within string theory, with fascinating connections with duality, black holes, holography and quantum information.
Joining Forces for Global Action: The global challenges ahead, from climate to computing, where a science-based, inclusive, collaborative approach will be increasingly important. ICTP’s strategic priorities for an 'International Science Alliance' and an 'International Consortium for Scientific Computing' are forging new collaborations in equal partnerships between ICTP, foundations, corporations, countries, national agencies and scientific institutions.
