Asian Science Camp heads to Israel

Asian Science Camp heads to Israel

 

Over 300 young science geniuses arrived in Israel to participate in one of the most important science conferences in the world for students. Held in Jerusalem between 26 – 30 August, the prestigious annual conference, known as Asian Science Camp (ASC), promotes young scientists from all over Asia and the Pacific.

 

For the past six years, ASC is held in a different Asian country, organisers changed the venue this year to Israel. Previous camps were held in Taiwan, Bali, Japan, India and South Korea.

Such is the significance and importance of the conference, Israel’s President Shimon Peres was the guest of honour and opened the event.

The camp is the initiative of a number of Nobel laureates in the sciences from eastern Asia, who set for themselves the goal of creating a platform to locating and promoting the future generation of scientists from Asia. Also appearing on the programme was Professor Yuan T. Lee, co-founder of the Asian Science Camp; Professor Makoto Kobayashi, chairman of the ASC International Advisory Committee and Professor Roger D. Kornberg from Stanford University in California.

Most of the activities were held on the Hebrew University’s Edmund J. Safra Campus offering participants a substantial portion of basic science in the spheres of physics, chemistry, life sciences, and mathematics, from the best scientific minds in Israel and around the world. Amongst those participating in Asia were four students from the University of the Philippines Los Banos. They all majored in Applied Physics and below the age of 20.

The aim of the science camp according to organisers is to expose the young guests to Israel’s diversity, the ancient with its historic and cultural depth, and the youthful with its dynamic and effervescent character. The students were also given the chance to explore Israel’s beauty with a tour of Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv during their stay.

Jewish Times Asia (Issue September 2012)