A Brief History of the
Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies
(AAPPS)
By K K Phua,
Director, Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS),
Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
______________________________________________________________
Invited Plenary talk at the 12th Asia Pacific Physics Conference,
14 to 19 July 2013, Tokyo, Japan
As early as the 1970s, physicists in the Asia Pacific had held some
meetings to discuss the possibility of strengthening regional
collaboration. The areas of focus of these discussions were three-fold:
1) Organising regional physics meetings
2) Establishing a regional physical society
3) Setting up a regional research centre
In the 1970s and 1980s, the then Nanyang University and Singapore
University had the honour of hosting visits by Professor C N Yang and
the late Professor Abdus Salam, both on a regular basis.
Professor C N Yang
Professor Abdus Salam
Apart from his role as an external examiner, the late Professor Salam
was here to garner support from Singapore in his effort to promote
science education in Pakistan, starting from primary level all the way
to university level.
Workshops and Conferences
During the early 1970s, we took the initiative to organise several
workshops and conferences, including regular workshops on high
energy physics and other topics in physics. For example, a conference
was held with Professor Leon van Hove, former Director General of
CERN, and a workshop with Professor M Jacob (CERN) was organised
as well.
The 1st Asia Pacific Physics Conference (1st APPC)
The 1st Asia Pacific Physics Conference, organised by the Japan
Physical Society conjointly with the South East Asia Theoretical
Physics Association and physicists from China and Taiwan, was held
in Singapore in June 1983. The idea for this conference came from
Professor C N Yang, who was keen to promote physics in the Asia
Pacific region. This gave rise to subsequent conferences, forming a
series. Professor A Arima and Professor K K Phua were Chairmen of
the 1st Asia Pacific Physics Conference (1st APPC).
The venue of the 1st APPC was the Singapore University, which at that
time might not have had excellent facilities, but which nevertheless
attracted a big audience of some 400 delegates from Japan, Taiwan,
China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. The
delegation from Japan was led by Professor A Arima.
The conference also provided the opportunity for senior physicists
from Taiwan and China to meet for the first time since 1949.
Members of the Chinese delegation included well known physicists
like Professor Zhou Pei Yuan and Zhou Guang Zhao. From Taiwan, we
had Professor T Y Wu and others.
Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore
This meeting attracted many prominent physicists and plenary
speakers including Professors A Arima, C Rubbia, Samuel Ting, C N
Yang and others. The high points of the conference were the
presentations on the newly discovered W-boson and Z-boson.
The 1st APPC was a success not only because it provided a platform
for physicists in the region to share the latest developments in the
field, but also because it laid the foundation for the establishment of
the Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies (AAPPS) some years
later.
As it turned out, the series of Asia Pacific Physics conferences had a
great impact on collaboration among physicists in the region.
The 2nd APPC was held in Bangalore, India in January 1986.
Two years later, the 3rd APPC was held in Hong Kong in 1988. It was
at this conference that Professor CN Yang oversaw a historic meeting
which decided on the formation of the Association of the Asia Pacific
Physical Society (AAPPS). Professor Yang entrusted Professor
Kenneth Young with the drafting of the Constitution of the AAPPS,
and the official registration of the Association in Hong Kong.
The AAPPS was formally constituted in October 1989 as an umbrella
organisation of physical societies in Asia Pacific. Its notable aim was
and is to promote the advancement of knowledge in physics in the
Asia Pacific region, including research, applications and teaching,
especially through international collaborations in these activities in
the region.
The first council meeting of the AAPPS took place in Seoul, Korea, in
February 1990, in conjunction with the 4th APPC. Following this, the
first General Meeting of the AAPPS was held at Yonsei University,
Seoul, on 10 August 1990, where Professor CN Yang, chairman of the
Ad Hoc Committee for the Formation of AAPPS, declared the formal
inauguration of the AAPPS. The election of council members also took
place. The following day, the first council meeting was held and
Professor Yang was elected as the first President of the AAPPS.
The list of the Office Bearers is as follows: 1)
President
C N Yang (Hong Kong Physical Society)
2)
Vice President
M Konuma (Physical Society of Japan)
3)
Secretary
Kenneth Young (Hong Kong Physical Society)
4)
Treasurer
C K Chew (South East Asia Theoretical Physics
Association)
5)
Council members
S Chandrasekhar (Indian Physics Association)
Y M Cho (Korean Physical Society)
H L Huang (The Physical Society located in Taipei, China)
K K Phua (South East Asia Theoretical Physics Association)
A Salam (International Center for Theoretical Physics)
B C Tan (ASEAN Institute of Physics and Malaysian Institute of
Physics)
J Tsujiuchi (Japan Society of Applied Physics)
G V H Wilson (Australian Institute of Physics)
Z X Zhao (The Chinese Physical Society)
AAPPS Bulletin
The official publication of the association was known as the AAPPS
Bulletin, and was jointly edited by Professor S C Lim (Malaysia) and
Professor C H Lai (Singapore).
The 25th International Conference on High Energy Physics
Following the success of the 1st APPC, the 25th International
Conference on High Energy Physics (Rochester Conference) was held
in Singapore in August 1990. Professor K K Phua and Professor Y
Yamaguchi were the Chairmen of this conference. The conference
turned out to be a great success, with 1,200 participants from all over
the world. This outcome was attributed to the close collaboration
between the Japan Physical Society, the Department of Physics,
Singapore University, and the South East Asia Theoretical Physics
Association. It was probably the first time that the two countries had
worked so closely together on a big conference.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong with Professor C N Yang during the 1990 Rochester
Conference
The Asia Pacific Theoretical Physics Centre
Another milestone of the AAPPS was the establishment of the Asia
Pacific Theoretical Physics Centre (APTPC) in Seoul in 1996. The
AAPPS and the APPCs (4th, 5th & 6th) played an important role,
directly or indirectly, in the subsequent successful establishment of
this centre. The APTPC was formally launched at the Inauguration
Conference held in Seoul from 4 to 10 June 1996, with Professor C N
Yang appointed as its founding President.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Perhaps the AAPPS can consider organising regular subject
conferences such as the European Conference on High Energy
Physics and European Conference on Condensed Matter Physics,
organised biannually by the European Physical Society, as the
number of physicists is much greater compared to 30 years ago.
Another area worthy of consideration is the organising of schools in
different subjects, along the same lines as the Les Houches Summer
School or ICTP Summer School for example, which are aimed at
graduate students and post-doctorates, particularly those from
developing and smaller countries like Indonesia, Thailand, the
Philippines, Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh and others.
The main idea for forming the AAPPS, as mooted by Professor C N
Yang and others, was to promote physics in the developing countries.
After 30 years, many small countries have advanced to a new level of
physics teaching and research. However, there is still a great need for
us to help to train the young physicists from poorer countries in
terms of training and research facilities. Advanced countries in the
region should render such support.
Take for example, the area of quantum information. Singapore has
invested a lot of money in quantum information research and will be
spending some US$300 million on this project. Surely the Centre of
Quantum Technologies and the Institute of Advanced Studies at
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, could jointly organise
3-week-long (or longer) school sessions to train physicists from all
countries in the region.
Institute of Advanced Studies, Nanyang Technological University
Centre of Quantum Technologies
Other countries such as Japan, China, India and Australia can do
likewise. As you may be aware, Europe has many such schools,
including the Les Houches Summer School, ICTP Schools and others.
No doubt, countries such as Japan, China, India and Australia have
been organising different schools, but it is important to adhere to the
same objective of promoting physics in the developing countries.
Financial assistance needs to be provided to encourage participants
from these countries. In addition, such schools should be organised
on a regular basis.
Lastly, the AAPPS should consider increasing its membership (for
example, individual membership) in the same way that the European
Physical Society has done.
July, 2013