AIMS South Africa Newsletter December 2020/January 2021

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about a telescope is probably a scientific instrument housed within a dome or similar structure on a secluded plateau, or a radio antenna in some remote location. However, astronomers at Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) are doing something that is uncommon – observing from a
The Mathematical Thinking (MT SAMO) Course was the first fully online course ever offered by the organisation. It started on 17 August 2020 following the cancellation of the residential module in June 2020 for MT33 due to COVID-19. The pandemic has really compelled most educational institutions to resort to online platforms to satisfy their clients,
AIMS South Africa is saddened to announce the passing on 8 December 2019 of Prof. Ben Turok, a Trustee and long-time supporter of AIMS. Ben Turok dedicated his whole life to fighting for freedom, equality and social justice in South Africa. His deeply held belief in Africa and his lifetime of activism and advocacy were
The AIMS Women in STEM (AIMSWIS) Initiative held its annual Mentoring and Networking Event on 30 November 2019, at AIMS South Africa, under the theme “breaking the glass ceiling”. This year’s theme served as a call to direct attention to and celebrate women who have broken through the metaphorical glass ceiling that seems to permeate
AIMS South Africa celebrated the success of its eighth group of January intake students at a special Recognition of Achievement Ceremony held at its centre in Muizenberg on 14 November 2019. Sixteen students (including 10 South Africans) received their AIMS Master’s Recognition of Achievement Certificates and will graduate next year through the partner universities that
The German research chair with specialization in Partial Differential Equations and Calculus of Variations at AIMS South Africa, in collaboration with the Communication and Information Theory Chair at TU Berlin, is offering two Postdoctoral fellowships at AIMS South Africa research center in Cape Town. These fellowships are made available and funded by the DAAD to
On 25 and 31 October, the AIMS Women in STEM (AIMSWIS) initiative had the pleasure of hosting two phenomenal women in mathematics Dr Magdaleen Marais and Prof. Lijun Zhang. Dr Marais is an extraordinary lecturer at the University of Pretoria, a research fellow at AIMS South Africa, and a member of the transregional collaborative research