STIAS Fellow and member of the US President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology teaches at African School of Physics (13 August 2010)

Prof S. James Gates Jr. (Jim) - John S. Toll Professor and Director of the Center for String & Particle Theory at the University of Maryland – was one of the very first STIAS Fellows. In February 2002 he participated in the second STIAS project on “String Theory and Quantum Gravity – New Developments and Links to Low-energy Physics”.

Since then Jim has been a staunch supporter of STIAS and has visited South Africa on a number of occasions, including as member of the 2004 International Panel who tabled the report on “Shaping the Future of Physics in SA”, participating in the launch of the Wallenberg Research Centre in 2007, and most recently as a lecturer at the first African School of Physics sponsored by CERN and a number of European institutions, and hosted over three weeks by NITheP at the STIAS Wallenberg Research Centre. (The “Shaping the Future” report led, inter alia, to the establishment of the National Institute for Theoretical Physics (NITheP) with its main centre at STIAS and regional centres at the Universities of the Witwatersrand and KwaZulu-Natal). In 2009 Jim Gates had been elected to President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Another member of the Council who has ties with Stellenbosch is Dr Shirley Ann Jackson, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and former Chair of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She is a patron of the Stellenbosch University “HOPE Project” who gave her whole-hearted support and endorsement of the project during a live transmission at its recent Stellenbosch launch.

On that occasion Dr Jackson said that the HOPE Project reflects the best of South Africa as it is “making a difference into the future.” She also praised the “Virtual Bridge” that has been set up between SU and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, utilising a high-capacity fiber-optic cable and making high capacity information exchange possible: “This bridge of light will also be the bridge of hope.” STIAS and Stellenbosch University are obviously proud that their flags can be flown at a forum as eminent as President’s Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology!

Caption: Prof Jim Gates (back row, fourth from left) and Dr Jackson (front row, second from left) appear with President Obama and other members of PCAST.

STIAS reaches an important milestone – a full complement of Fellows at the Wallenberg Research Centre! (3 August 2010)





















In early August the STIAS Fellows’ Programme reached an important milestone: a full complement of STIAS Fellows was resident at the Wallenberg Research Centre for the first time since the November 2007 inauguration of STIAS’ main research facility.

During this period two group projects were hosted at STIAS:
Genres of Critique, with project leaders Karin van Marle (Pretoria Univ) and Stewart Motha (Kent Univ), and Fellows Mark Antaki (McGill), Denise Ferreira-Da Silva (UC, San Diego), George Pavlich (Alberta), Patricia Tuitt (Birkbeck College), Jagath Weerasinghe (Institute of Archaeology, Colombo); Resolving Inconsistencies in the Foundation of Population Ecology, with project leader Wayne Getz (Berkeley) and Fellows Lev Ginzburg (SUNY at Stony Brook), Eloy Revilla (CSIC, Sevilla) and Norman Owen-Smith (WITS).

(Details about these and other projects appear at http://www.stias.ac.za/research.html)

Other Fellows and STIAS project leaders resident at the Walleberg Research Centre in August are Jean Comaroff (Chicago), John Comaroff (Chicago), Hans Lindahl (Tilburg), Robert Mattes (UCT), Mark Solms (UCT), Achille Mbembe (WITS), Sarah Nuttall (WITS), Ursula van Beek (SU) and Peter Vale (Rhodes). STIAS Fellows arriving in September include Aubrey Matshiqi (independent analyst), Tito Mboweni (former Governer of the SA Reserve Bank), Wentzel van Huyssteen (Princeton), Dirk Berg-Schlosser (Marburg), Ursula Hoffmann-Lange (Bamberg) and Laurence Whitehead (Oxford). The latter three Fellows will join Ursula van Beek for the final phase of the project The global financial crisis and its consequences for democracy.

According to STIAS Director, Hendrik Geyer, a number of initiatives have been taken to ensure that over the next few years STIAS will be able continue with its programme at comparable levels of residency.

STIAS Board Member appointed as Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (25 June 2010)

Prof Christof Heyns, Dean of the University of Pretoria Faculty of Law and STIAS Board member, has been appointed as Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions by the the Human Rights Council of the United Nations.

The Special Rapporteur is one of the “special procedures" for human rights protection established by the United Nations. Special procedures are mechanisms established by the Commission on Human Rights and assumed by the Human Rights Council to address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Currently, there are 31 thematic and 8 country mandates. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights provides these mechanisms with personnel, policy, research and logistical support for the discharge of their mandates.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights established the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions in 1982. The mandate has been renewed several times since then. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur covers all countries, irrespective of whether a State has ratified relevant international Conventions.

The immediate previous holder of the position was Mr Philip Alston (Australia), 2004 – 2010. Previous Rapporteurs are Ms. Asma Jahangir (Pakistan), 1998-July 2004; Mr. Bacre Waly Ndiaye (Senegal), 1992-1998 and Mr. S. Amos Wako (Kenya), 1982-1992.

Professor Heyns is a leading human rights scholar, and has published widely on aspects of international human rights law, particularly with a focus on Africa.

(See http://web.up.ac.za/default.asp?ipkCategoryID=8641&articleID=4830 for further details.)

Caption: Prof Christof Heyns

STIAS Research Advisory Committee Meeting (31 May 2010)

The STIAS Research Advisory Committee recently convened at Mostertsdrift for a planning session and to review the STIAS Research Programme. The present members are:










Prof Charles Ngwena, Law Faculty, University of the Free State
Prof Paul Cilliers, Centre for Studies in Complexity, Stellenbosch University
Prof Cheryl de la Rey, Vice-Chancellor, University of Pretoria
Dr Morné du Plessis, CEO, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) South Africa
Prof Hendrik Geyer, Stellenbosch University, MD, Director of STIAS
Prof Jan-Hendrik Hofmeyr, Centre for Studies in Complexity, Stellenbosch University
Prof Bernard Lategan, STIAS Founding Director
Prof Servaas van der Berg, SA Research Chair in the Economics of Social Policy, Stellenbosch University
Prof Andre van der Walt, SA Research Chair in Property Law, Stellenbosch University
Prof Charles van Onselen, Unit for Advanced Studies, University of Pretoria

seven of whom were able to attend the meeting.

Much of the discussion centred on broadening the input base from which STIAS Fellows and group projects are drawn. In this regard the recently established Society of STIAS Fellows is expected to play a much more active role in future. (By the end of 2010 the number of STIAS Fellows will already exceed 130.)

There was consensus that STIAS should bring its focus on interdisciplinarity to bear on issues around agro-food regime and food security, climate change and water related projects. A first step in this direction will be the group project on “Agro-food regimes, rural poverty and social change in Southern Africa” led in early 2011 by Prof Ben Cousins of the University of the Western Cape. It was also agreed that STIAS is now in a position to embark on much more direct interaction with research structures at a number of South African universities.

Caption: Members of the STIAS Research Advisory Committee at Mostertsdrift. Back: Profs Paul Cilliers, Jannie Hofmeyr and Charles van Onselen Front: Profs Bernard Lategan, Cheryl de la Rey, Hendrik Geyer and Dr Morné du Plessis (Photo: Anton Jordaan, SCPS)

Sydney Brenner and Nina Jablonski present lectures at STIAS (March 2010)

Prof Sydney Brenner, the 2002 Nobel Prize winner for Physiology/Medicine and a STIAS visiting fellow, and world-renowned anthropologist and palaeontologist Prof Nina Jablonski, received honorary doctoral degrees from Stellenbosch University at a graduation ceremony on Wednesday 10 March 2010. They both also presented public lectures at STIAS.

On Tuesday 9 March Prof Jablonski presented “Why human skin comes in colours”. This lecture was coordinated with the African Genome Education Institute as part of their Darwin lecture series and was sponsored by Naspers.

An intriguing lecture by Prof Jablonski’s expanded upon the following abstract: “Skin colour is one of the most obvious ways in which people vary, and has been used in the past as a basis for the biological classification of humans into races. Our research work and that of many other groups have demonstrated that skin pigmentation is a biological adaptation that regulates the penetration of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) into the skin. Skin pigmentation is an evolutionary compromise between the conflicting demands of protection of the skin against UVR and of production of vitamin D by UVR. This compromise represents one of the best examples of evolution by natural selection acting on the human body. In the history of the genus Homo and of our species, Homo sapiens, skin pigmentation has been a highly labile trait. Similar skin tones have evolved independently numerous times in response to similar environmental conditions. Because of this, skin colour is an inappropriate basis for the classification of humans into groups.”

Click here for an excerpt of Prof Jablonski’s lecture.
Listen to the lecture here or download the lecture here (11.5Mb).

Prof Brenner has been a visiting fellow of STIAS since 2005. On Thursday 11 March he presented a STIAS Lecture on “Reading the Human Genome: the reconstruction of the past”. In typical style Brenner captivated his audience, speaking without notes or slides: “I have no slides for this presentation. I haven't mastered PowerPoint yet and don't want to. One good phrase is worth a thousand PowerPoints”.

He outlined his idea for a novel method of analysing a single genome to tell whether it is at mutational equilibrium. If it is at equilibrium it carries no information from the past; if is not then it does. In fact, there are traces in a human genome of organisms that lived as much as a billion years ago.

Watch an excerpt of Prof Brenner’s lecture here.
Click here for a link to download the lecture (10Mb).

Caption: Prof Hendrik Geyer (STIAS Director) with Profs Nina Jablonski and Sydney Brenner after they had received honorary doctoral degrees from Stellenbosch University. (Photo: Anton Jordaan)

Minister Naledi Pandor visits STIAS (February 2010)

On Friday 12 February 2010 Minister Naledi Pandor and senior representatives from her office and the Department of Science and Technology visited STIAS where they met with Prof Hendrik Geyer (STIAS Director), members of the STIAS Research Programme Committee and the present group of STIAS Fellows.

This visit followed on discussions Prof Geyer had with Minister Pandor in November 2009 and in February with the Director-General, Dr Phil Mjwara, exploring the possibility of DST support for the STIAS research programme. During the visit to STIAS Minister Pandor and the DST group acquainted themselves with the STIAS facilities at Mostertsdrift and also used the opportunity to obtain some first-hand information and impressions from the Fellows presently working at STIAS.

Discussions continued over lunch during which Minister Pandor expressed her appreciation of the STIAS research programme with its particular emphasis on multi-disciplinary projects. She emphasised the importance of maintaining the independence of the "creative space for the mind" that STIAS provides and indicated that DST had initiated a process to evaluate support for the STIAS research programme avoiding any interference with its internal processes and choice of projects.

Caption: Minister Naledi Pandor and senior DST representatives at STIAS: Dr Gilbert Siko (Director: Science Platforms), Minister Naledi Pandor, Prof Hendrik Geyer (STIAS Director) and Ms Nasima Badsha (Ministerial Advisor). (Photo: Anton Jordaan)

Dr Peter Wallenberg visits STIAS (December 2009)

"International business leader, friend of Africa, benefactor of STIAS" reads the inscription for Dr Peter Wallenberg on a commemorative plaque in the STIAS Wallenberg Research Centre which carries the name of the STIAS benefactor. It was for these roles, and many more, that Stellenbosch University honoured Dr Wallenberg with an honorary doctorate at a recent graduation ceremony in December 2009. Naturally this occasion also made it possible to welcome Dr Wallenberg back at STIAS, and to bring him up to date with developments at STIAS since the Wallenberg Research Centre's inauguration in November 2007.


PETER WALLENBERG

Peter Wallenberg is regarded internationally as one of the leading industrialists of our time. This modest and humble man has expanded the Wallenberg group into one of Europe's largest banking and industrial enterprises over the past forty years.

Peter Wallenberg was born in Stockholm on 29 May 1926 and, together with his brother Marcus, represented the fourth generation of a family that dominated the banking and industrial sectors in Sweden for more than one hundred and fifty years. He has a degree in law from the University of Stockholm and started his career in Atlas Copco, a company that forms part of the Wallenberg Group. He first represented the company in the USA, followed by stints in Africa, which was where his love for the continent first gained shape. The big turning point in Peter's life came in 1971, when his older brother Marcus died unexpectedly. Marcus was raised from the outset to follow in the footsteps of their famous father, Marcus Wallenberg Sr.

Marcus Wallenberg Sr. had built the family business into one of the leading banking and industrial groups in Sweden and even Europe. This industrial empire was placed under the control of the Wallenberg's umbrella company, Investor, through which shares (and often also control) were acquired in dozens of companies, including Ericsson, Electrolux, the Scandinavian airline, AstraZeneca (pharmaceutical products), Saab and Scania.

Peter Wallenberg quietly and thoroughly, and with great perseverance, started working himself into the complex world of the Wallenberg group and gradually emerged as an ever stronger leader. In 1982 he became chairman of the board of Investor, restructured the group and executed great reforms to make the holding company more effective and profitable. In contrast to what his critics predicted, he was the most successful leader (measured in financial results) that the clan had had up to that point. On his retirement, the companies in the Investor group represented an astonishing 40% of the value of the Swedish stock market.

Education lies close to Peter Wallenberg's heart. The foundations of his group have supported many educational projects over the years, from pre-school to tertiary level. He views high-level research as being of key importance, as is evident from, among others, his extensive financial support for the Wallenberg Research Centre at STIAS.

Over the past few years, Peter Wallenberg has developed a special interest in Stellenbosch University. He has already visited the campus on three occasions and believes that the University has a key role to play in the further development of the continent.

He has received nine honorary doctorates and has been honoured by way of decorations from all over the world.

In the light of his exceptional leadership characteristics, his excellent achievements as a banker and industrialist, his interest in and support of training and research, his association with Africa, his close ties with South Africa and in particular with Stellenbosch, it is only appropriate that Stellenbosch University honours him with an honorary doctorate.

(From the commendation for Dr Wallenberg)

The photos show Dr Wallenberg receiving his honorary degree, and relaxing afterwards with (back) Profs Hendrik Geyer (STIAS Director) and Göran Sandberg (Rector of Umeå University) and (front) Mr Peter Wallenberg, Jr and Prof Bernard Lategan (Founding Director of STIAS).

STIAS–PWIAS Colloquium: The HIV-Exposed but Uninfected Infant: How Can the Excess Morbidity and Mortality be Explained? (3–5 Nov 2009)

The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies (PWIAS), associated with the University of British Columbia, will hold its first Peter Wall Colloquium Abroad from November 3-5, 2009 at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS). The colloquium seeks to explain why babies exposed to HIV but uninfected (HEU) by their mothers are at enhanced risk of poor health and development during the first year of life.

This interdisciplinary colloquium is organised and sponsored within the framework of a formal partnership agreement between STIAS and PWIAS and takes place against the following background.

Every year, approximately 10.6 million children die before the age of five years, mostly in low or middle income countries.Approximately 20% of babies in South Africa are born to mothers who are infected with HIV, and with effective mother to child prevention of transmission programs the rate of transmission to the babies during pregnancy and delivery can be as low as 5%. For reasons that remain to be explained, babies exposed to HIV but uninfected (HEU) by their mothers are at enhanced risk of poor health and development during the first year of life.

This workshop will discuss the multiple dimensions of this problem in an attempt to plan a study to explain this peculiar phenomenon. Potential contributing factors include poverty, malnutrition, lack of access to health care and exposure to adverse environmental factors and/or transmissible infectious diseases. Nonetheless, many children exposed to HIV remain healthy. It is unclear why some children fall ill and others thrive despite exposure to apparently similar environmental and social challenges. It is essential to better understand the spectrum and determinants of HIV-related health and disease in children from low and middle income countries as the first step in their prevention.

It is clear that susceptibility to disease of any type is multifaceted, involving, among other factors, genetics, environmental exposures (toxins, pollution, microbes), nutrition and psychosocial conditions. Many studies have been performed in the developed world to identify the factors that put children at risk for suffering from HIVrelated illnesses, but none has identified severe disease in those babies who are not infected (HEU). There is a dearth of information from the developing world where this phenomenon has now been identified in sub-Saharan Africa and in South America. Analyses can be performed at a point in time (by case control) or in a prospective study. Whereas the latter is more expensive than the former, a cohort study has many advantages and is most likely to inform strategies for enhancing the care of children in resource-limited settings. We therefore propose to perform a longitudinal study at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa to identify why HEU babies suffer so much illness during the first year of life.

Profs David Speert (UBC), Monika Esser (SU), Mark Cotton (SU) and Ben Marais (SU) are the co-organizers of the colloquium which will take place at the STIAS Wallenberg Research Centre. Further information about the colloquium may be obtained at http://www.heu.pwias.ubc.ca.

STIAS Conference on Memory and the Past to be held in Berlin (29–31 Oct 2009)

Research fellows from STIAS (the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study) will be participating in an international conference focusing on Historical Memory and Social Transformation to be held in Berlin from 29 to 31 October.

The aim of the conference is to scrutinise the role of human memory in the processing of the past and of traumatic events. The focus will be on post-1989 events and the dramatic changes that followed these events, both in South Africa and in Germany. This conference follows on a visit, on invitation from Prof. Arnold van Zyl, Vice-rector: Research, by Dr Annette Schavan (the German Minister for Research and Education) to STIAS and Stellenbosch University in 2007. On the occasion of her visit, some of the research projects undertaken by STIAS were introduced to Minister Schavan.

Among these was the investigation of the ambiguous role played by human memory in processing the past. The encounter resulted in an invitation to STIAS, from Minister Schavan, to organise a conference on the same theme with German researchers and opinion shapers in Germany. The minister was of the opinion that the processing of the past has not received adequate attention following the reunification of the two Germanys in 1990; she was hoping that such a conference would promote discussion on this issue, not only between Germany and South Africa, but also among German citizens themselves.

Profs Bernard Lategan (founding director of STIAS), Mamadou Diawara and Jörn Rüsen, project leaders of the original STIAS project Historical Memory—Dealing with the past, reaching for the future as well as STIAS research fellows Profs Neville Alexander, Antjie Krog, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela and Elisio Macamo will deliver papers at the Berlin conference, while Hans Huyssen (presently a STIAS fellow and artist-in-residence), together with Madosini, will present a musical performance.

Breyten Breytenbach, well-known poet and writer, will be the guest speaker.

Prof Arnold van Zyl and Prof Hendrik Geyer, Director of STIAS, will also be attending the conference. On the German side, Minister Schavan and pre-eminent German academics, journalists and representatives of civil society will be taking part in the programme. Berghahn Books will publish Historical Memory in Africa in 2010, edited by Mamadou Diawara, Bernard Lategan and Jörn Rüsen; it is based on contributions by participants in the original STIAS project.

Prof Hendrik Geyer can be contacted at 021 808 2185 or hbg@sun.ac.za for additional information.

Two renowned international scientists to visit STIAS as first Donald Gordon Fellows (20-7-2009)

During the month of August the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) will host Profs Manuel Castells and Leonard Susskind as the first two Donald Gordon Fellows. This fellowship was made possible by a generous grant from the Donald Gordon Foundation. Profs Castells and Susskind will be at STIAS from 4 to 14 August and 10 to 31 August 2009 respectively.Prof Castells is one of the five most cited social scientists in the world. He has published 23 books, co-authored a further 21 and published over 100 articles in academic journals. His trilogy The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture have been translated into 22 languages and The Internet Galaxy into 15 languages. Prof Castells' latest book, Communication Power, an empirically grounded theory of power in the network society, will be published by Oxford University Press (OUP) later this month and will be launched at The Book Lounge in Cape Town on 26 August 2009.

During his stay at STIAS Prof Castells will deliver a lecture on The Crisis of Capitalism to an invited audience. This lecture on 5 August 2009 is jointly organised with the Centre for Higher Education Transformation (CHET). On 11 August 2009 he will participate in a seminar at STIAS on Strengthening Doctoral Scholarship in the Social Sciences. Other speakers and participants include Prof Jonathan Jansen (Rector of the University of the Free State), Dr Cheryl de la Rey (CEO of the Council for Higher Education (CHE) and STIAS Board Member), and Profs Nico Cloete, Johann Mouton and Johan Muller. On 13 August 2009 Prof Castells will speak about The Intellectual Journey of Manuel Castells on the campus of the University of the Western Cape.

Prof Susskind is visiting Stellenbosch for the second time as a STIAS Fellow. His first visit in 2002 saw him participating in the second STIAS project on String Theory and Quantum Gravity. During that project many of the ideas were formulated that would later shape what is now known as the National Institute for Theoretical Physics (NITheP), established with its main centre at STIAS.

Prof Susskind is not only a pioneer of string theory, but an internationally respected authority on black holes. His latest book is entitled The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics and as a popular science writer he has recently drawn attention with his book The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design.

During his second STIAS Fellowship Prof Susskind will be an invited speaker at a five day symposium held from 10 to14 August 2009 at STIAS on Foundations of Space and Time: Reflections on Quantum Gravity. A number of local participants will be joined by 15 internationally known theoretical physicists and cosmologists, including Sir Roger Penrose from Oxford. The symposium is planned as a celebration of the 70th birthday of Prof George Ellis from the University of Cape Town.

Prof Susskind will also present a popular account of the Cosmic Landscape in which he argues that string theory presents so many self-consistent possibilities for the construction of the universe that the fine-tuned conditions which seem to account for the fact that the universe gave birth to life can be considered as no more than a statistical fluctuation.

Arrangements for this presentation will be announced at a later stage.

Caption: From left to right are Prof Lenny Susskind, Prof Manuel Castells and Prof Hendrik Geyer, Director of STIAS. (Photo: Anton Jordaan, SCPS)

Towards a New Humanism: Symposium at STIAS (22-23 July 2009)

On 22 and 23 July a number of deeply rooted issues affecting society will come under the spotlight at a symposium on "Towards a New Humanism" held at the STIAS Wallenberg Research Centre. About twenty South African participants have been invited and will be joined by a number of colleagues from abroad. The symposium is planned as a STIAS consultation expected to develop into a full-scale STIAS project with John de Gruchy as project leader. Participants from abroad include William Schweiker (Chicago), Harry Kunneman (Utrecht; also a STIAS fellow) and Ebrahim Moosa (Duke). Among the local participants are Denise en Laurie Ackermann, SU Rector Russel Botman, Farid Esack, Antjie Krog, Neville Alexander and Njabulo Ndebele, former Vice-Chancellor of UCT; Alexander and Ndebele are also STIAS fellows.

A quotation from John de Gruchy's opening statement for the symposium sketches the parameters for the discussion: "We are fully aware that the task ahead of us has to be understood in relation to the historical context, both local and global, in which we live. I stress the connection between the local and global because it is now self-evident how much these are inextricably bound together. That is also why it is so important and good that we have amongst us friends and colleagues from contexts other than South Africa. Inevitably our focus will be more specifically on our own country, but our hope is that our discussion will not be parochial or insular in its scope and character."

"Despite the termination of legislative apartheid and the strides that have been taken towards reconciliation and nation building, the legacy of apartheid continues to manifest itself in ways that threaten the future of South Africa. Not too far from where we are sitting in this splendid complex are people living in squalor, trapped by poverty exacerbated by the failure of service delivery, appalling housing, children unable to obtain a reasonable education, the prevalence of disease and violence. The catalogue is too well-known and perhaps too uncomfortable for the comfortable for us to dwell on too long. But this is the dehumanizing reality that casts its long shadow over our deliberations. And, of course, the dehumanization of those trapped in poverty has its mirror image amongst those that are differently dehumanized by affluence, privilege and the abuse of power."

"Let us acknowledge at the outset what is self-evident. We who gather here are not representative of the demography of South Africa or the wider world and, if the truth be acknowledged, we are mostly "senior citizens." There are none present to represent the anger and bravado of youth, none who have been on strike these past weeks, none suffering from HIV & AIDS. We are privileged, well-educated, and financially secure even in these times of economic downturn. In fact, we may well wonder whether we have anything to say, any contribution to make to the issues that confront us. But we know that we cannot simply sit back in such a time and abnegate our responsibility for future generations and therefore for doing what we can now within the limitations that define us. We also know that we have a wealth of collective experience, a wide range of knowledge and a fair dose of wisdom, and at least a willingness to make a contribution to the humanization of our society. We also bring to the table a significant range of social experience, academic disciplines, and perspectives that, combined together, are potentially significant."

"There is a widespread view in South Africa that some of those constituencies that were deeply engaged in the struggle against apartheid withdrew from public life once the battle was won. Examples usually given of such withdrawal are the churches and ecumenical organizations such as the South African Council of Churches. But there is also the widely held view that academics and intellectuals who were previously at the forefront of public debate and protest withdrew with a sigh of relief in order to pursue their own scholarly interests in the relative peace of post-apartheid South Africa. There is truth in these accusations, even though there is also much by way of caricature. But however we assess them, we fail to appreciate such accusations if we do not hear in them a cry for intellectuals to fulfill their public role with renewed vigour even if our contribution to transformation may be a modest one. In responding to this challenge today, we also recognize that we stand in a long tradition, in South Africa as elsewhere, of those humanists who have contributed to the well being of the world in previous generations. We may be in search of a new humanism, but it is rooted in a distinguished genealogy."

With this symposium and the expected longer term project STIAS is looking forward to live up to its motto of "research of the highest relevance at the highest level." (Photo: Jannie Hofmeyr)

Stellenbosch gets a ‘village vineyard’ (6-10-2008)

A unique ‘town vineyard’ was planted at the historical Mostertsdrift, home of the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) at Stellenbosch University (SU) on two occasions recently.

On Thursday, representatives of the University, the Municipality, the wine industry, the community and the Institute planted the first of close on 1 000 grapevines on this historic estate in the heart of Stellenbosch during a special ceremony. Representatives included Mr Schalk Opperman, Assistent Director: Planning of SU; Ms Myra Linders on behalf of the Municipality; Prof Hendrik Geyer , STIAS; Mr Beyers Truter, wine industry; and Mr Gawie Groenewald on behalf of residents in the area.

On Saturday, 4 October, the surrounding residents, students in viticulture and oenology, staff of the Department of Viticulture and Oenology and representatives of the wine industry, were given the opportunity to display their vine-planting skills. The day’s activities included a spit braai that was preceded by a demonstration of and short talk on the planting of grapevines. A highlight was a short speech by Prof Roland Perold, son of Prof Abraham Isak Perold - one of the groundbreakers of the South African wine industry.

The aim of the vineyard, on the corner of Marais Street and Jonkershoek Road, is to remind people that Mostertsdrift was initially a wine farm, but also points to new thinking and innovation. The idea is to link the vineyard to the name of Prof Perold.

According to Prof Bernard Lategan, former director of STIAS, the vineyard is a long-held dream that is now being realised. "The planting of the vineyard represents the next phase in the development of the historical Mostertsdrift, which began with the restoration and refurnishing of the old farmstead and the wine cellar as offices for STIAS and the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA) respectively. This was followed by the building of the Wallenberg Research Centre on the Marais Street side of Mostertsdrift," explains Prof Lategan.

"However, the experimental nature of the vineyard is also symbolic of that in which STIAS and the Wallenberg Centre believe—to provide a space for creative thinking. Regarding the wine industry, Isak Perold embodied this search for renewal. By creating Pinotage he established the first new cultivar in Africa. We were surprised by the enthusiastic support for the idea of the vineyard that we received from residents, the University, and the wine industry. The Pinotage Association of South Africa in particular, with Duimpie Bayly and Beyers Truter at the helm, immediately offered their active support for the establishment of the vineyard.

"What is of particular importance for STIAS and also for the University is the participation of the Vineyard Academy under the leadership of Mr Henry Horne. The Academy is involved in practical, task-oriented training in the wine industry and plays a big role in providing unskilled farm workers with the necessary qualifications to fulfil their role in the wine industry to their full potential," added Prof Lategan.

According to Mr Albert Strever, a lecturer in the Department of Viticulture and Oenology at SU and project manager for the vineyard of about 0,35 hectare, the experimental nature of the vineyard is an exciting challenge. "In contrast to traditional vineyards, the vines will be planted in a fan shape so that the action of the sunlight on the different rows can be determined. Although the wine that will be made with the grapes will appear under similar labels, the grapes from the different rows will be kept separate from each other during the winemaking process so that one will literally be able to taste the difference in the wine."

He added that the trellising system would be unique for the specific situation and type of soil. "The experimental nature of this is also a challenge and, despite the initial criticism, I believe that we are truly going to be breaking new ground. Although the specific type of trellis, the so-called lyre trellis, has already been used on high-potential soils in the wine industry, I believe that the same principles that lead to this system realising high wine quality will also be valid if the soil potential is lower, as is the case here. The favourable canopy area and moderate root competition induced by narrowing spacing between the vine rows are only some of the secrets of this system that lead to its realisation of high production. It therefore is not a conventional decision, but rather a gamble, while still remaining faithful to that which STIAS and Stellenbosch University represent."

A further innovative aspect of the vineyard is that the soil in which the vineyard is to be planted comes from the Wallenberg Centre, where it was dug out to make space for the centre’s underground parking." One would not have thought that ground dug out to a depth of 3 metres would be suitable for vineyard, but we were surprised by its quality. Among the positive aspects of the soil are a favourable chemical composition, relatively low clay content, and an immense quantity of shingle that could have a very positive impact on root distribution."

He added that the situation of the vineyard would probably be better suited to other types of wine grapes, but because of the University’s special link with Pinotage—Prof Perold was a lecturer at the University—the decision was taken to plant Pinotage. "This decision was also received very favourably by the Pinotage Association of South Africa, which played a considerable role in the establishment of the vineyard and also will play a big role in the success of the wine that will be produced here."

Mr Beyers Truter said at Thursday’s function that the vineyard presents the opportunity to "think outside of the box" and that a number of winemakers will be asked to assist in the wine making process so that the micro climates of the vineyard can be studied (grapes from the various rows will be processed individually). The idea is to not only make Pinotage but also sparkling wine and even Rosé.

The vineyard’s Perold Vineyard Wine will be made by the University at the Welgevallen Cellar at nearby Coetzenburg.

Lelienfontein, a grapevine nursery at Wellington, donated the vines for the vineyard. The vineyard will also be used by the viticulture and oenology students at SU for teaching and research. The project will be managed from an operational point of view by Ms Tinake van Zyl of the Department of Viticulture and Oenology. The first crop of the vineyard should be harvested in about three years and it is expected to produce about 5 000 litres of wine.

More about Mostertsdrift: Mostertsdrift was allocated to Jan Cornelius Mostert in 1683 and registered in his name in 1692. By the end of that century the first wine was being produced on the farm. The property changed hands a number of times until Johannes Gerhardus Delport bought it in 1818 and erected the old manor house in 1820.

The farm later belonged to Abraham Marais. He was the elder brother of Jannie Marais, the benefactor of the University and heir of the adjacent farm, Coetzenburg. Descendants of the Marais family lived on Mostertsdrift until the late 1990s, when the property was purchased by the University. Mostertsdrift was allocated for use by STIAS in 2000. The manor house was restored in 2003 and the wine cellar in 2004, and the buildings were furnished as research areas. Construction of the new Wallenberg Research Centre began in 2006 and the building was taken into use in November 2007.

Caption: Town Vineyard at STIAS! From left to right are Prof Hendrik Geyer, Director of STIAS, Prof Andreas van Wyk, former Rector and Vice-Chancellor of Stellenbosch University, Mr Beyers Truter of the Pinotage Association and Mr Schalk Opperman, Assistant Director: Planning at the University. (Photo: Anton Jordaan, SCPS)

Hawking gives enthusiastic support of NITheP (14-5-2008)

The National Institute for Theoretical Physics (NITheP) in South Africa received the "strong and enthusiastic support" of famous theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking, at its opening at the Wallenberg Research Centre at STIAS on Tuesday.

Prof Hawking, who suffers from motor neuron disease and communicates using a sophisticated computer system, was not part of the list of speakers, but he surprised all with his attendance as well as his statement of support to the Institute. He said, with the aid of his computerized voice, that the Institute will allow local physicists to interact with scientists from overseas and that NITheP will train future African theoretical physicists.

The Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Mosibudi Mangena, who spoke directly after Prof Hawking, said some might wonder how South Africa, as a developing country with so many pressing infrastructural and social needs, can afford to invest money into supporting theoretical physics. "The answer simply is – we cannot afford not to. We must develop people with critical and analytical thoughts."

Minister Mangena also said the Institute is well-positioned to collaborate with existing experimental facilities, such as the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), the nuclear facilities at iThemba Labs, the National Laser Centre and maybe also the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope.

Prof David Gross, Nobel Prize winner for Physics and Director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara, USA, was the guest speaker at the function and delivered an enthusiastic presentation on string theory.

The establishment of NITheP was announced in 2005 by Minister Mangena in 2005. NITheP is a geographically distributed institute which also has regional centres at the Universities of KwaZulu-Natal and the Witwatersrand. It is being positioned as a national and African user facility for theoretical physics and will provide theoretical underpinning for current national programmes including astrophysics, cosmology, nuclear and particle physics, quantum technologies, condensed matter physics and quantum optics.

The launching event will be followed by a three day workshop co-hosted by AIMS, NITheP, STIAS and the Newton Institute at Cambridge. It will focus on international developments in theoretical physics and on state of the art cosmology in particular. This event and the subsequent research programmes at AIMS and NITheP, which will include a focus on cosmology, are seen as significant developments in South Africa’s science programme in general, and for its cosmology and astrophysics programmes in particular.

Prof Hendrik Geyer, Interim Director of NITheP, described his experience of the opening of the Institute as such: "The opening ceremony of the National Institute for Theoretical Physics at STIAS built the best possible platform from which NITheP can go further. The fact that Stephen Hawking was in attendance and added his voice of support to the many other personal messages of support, including that of Minister Mangena and the Nobel Prize winners David Gross and George Smoot, leaves no doubt that the government and the international community takes NITheP’s entry into the family of similar institutes worldwide very seriously. It made years of dreaming and hard work, and one day of sweating, worthwhile twice over!" Caption: Prof Stephen Hawking, world-famous theoretical physicist, was one of the guests attending the opening of the National Institute for Theoretical Physics (NITheP) at the Wallenberg Research Centre at STIAS. With him is Prof Hendrik Geyer, Interim Director of NITheP (left) and Mr Mosibudi Mangena, minister of Science and Technology. (Photo: Anton Jordaan, SCPS)

Nobel Prize-winner, Prof Sydney Brenner, visits STIAS (2-4-2008)

Prof Sydney Brenner, South African-born Nobel Prize winner for Medical Science in 2002, is a visiting fellow at STIAS. He was at Mostertsdrift recently to continue planning his extensive project proposal titled ‘The Sciences of Humanity’.

Prof Brenner has been invited to take up a fellowship at STIAS early next year. He will lead this project in which several researchers from different disciplines will participate.

According to Prof Hendrik Geyer, recently appointed Director of STIAS, the proposed project fits perfectly with the key objectives of STIAS, namely to support especially interdisciplinary projects that have long-term goals. "Naturally Prof Brenner’s involvement as project leader will give the project stature", Prof Geyer said.

Pictured here with Prof Brenner and his wife, May, are STIAS Director Prof Hendrik Geyer (left) and Prof Jannie Hofmeyr of the STIAS Research Programme Committee (at the back, right). (Photo: Anton Jordaan, SCPS)

Prof. Hendrik Geyer appointed as new director of STIAS

Prof Hendrik Geyer has been appointed the new Director of the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS). He succeeds Prof Bernard Lategan, who is retiring on 31 March 2008 and has been head of the institute since STIAS was established in 1999.

Prof Geyer is professor in Theoretical Physics and Director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics of Stellenbosch University (SU). He enjoys international recognition for his work on quantum mechanics and the quantum mechanical many-body problem.

As longstanding patron of the Chris Engelbrecht Summer School for Theoretical Physics he has succeeded in attracting many international leaders in this field to South Africa. Five of these experts later received the Nobel Prize. He was the main driving force behind the establishment of the National Institute for Theoretical Physics (NITheP), which is funded by the Department of Science and Technology and which also will be based at Mostertsdrift.

Prof Geyer is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, a research fellow of the Institute for Nuclear Theory of the University of Washington in Seattle, and recipient of the sought-after Alexander von Humboldt Award. He has broad, interdisciplinary interests and was involved in the establishment of a cross-faculty honours module, Philosophy for Scientists.

He has been involved in the popularisation of science for more than a decade — as a valued contributor to the Die Burger column, Wetenskap Vandag (Science Today), and as a regular panel member for the popular radio programme, Hoe verklaar jy dit? (How do you explain that?). He has a lively interest in the arts, especially classical music. His roots are in the rural Eastern Cape. He is married to Jane Herholdt and they have two daughters, Jani and Marisa.

Mr Desmond Smith, Chairperson of the STIAS Board of Directors, said that with his high regard as a scientist and extensive international contacts, Prof Geyer was excellently equipped to lead STIAS in the next phase of its development.

"There are exciting possibilities waiting on STIAS in the immediate future that will further extend the institute’s strategic role in the sphere of science in both South Africa and on the continent. At the same time I would like to express our appreciation on behalf of all involved with STIAS, to Prof Bernard Lategan for his crucial role in the establishment of the institute and in creating its current standing."

Opening of the Wallenberg Research Centre

The modern Wallenberg Centre, made possible by a generous grant from the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation of Sweden, was officially opened on 15 November 2007.

The was accompanied by a week of celebrations and lectures. The official opening on Thursday 15 November started with a champagne celebration where the architect, Mr Hein Visser explained the design of the building and the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Russel Botman talked about the relationship between the University and STIAS. Afterwards there was a guided tour of the facility.

In the evening of the 15th there was be a gala dinner, attended inter alia by Dr. Peter Wallenberg Sr., Chair of the Wallenberg Foundations and by members of his family. Prof. Mzamo Mangaliso, President of the National research Foundation and member of the Board of Directors of STIAS was the keynote speaker. The Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Mr. Derek Hanekom and Prof. James Gates of the University of Maryland and a fellow of STIAS also participated in the program.

For a description of the design and purpose of the Wallenberg Research Centre, go to ‘Facilities’.