The Search for the African Einstein

Each year 50 college students from all over Africa are invited to enroll at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences. The institute was founded by Neil Turok, a white man who is a professor at Cambridge University. A native South African, Turok’s parents were anti-apartheid activists during his formative years.

The goal of the institute is to train high-achieving African students in the mathematical sciences. Students are invited to the school after they have graduated from college for a one-year program of intense training in mathematics and computer science. Turok holds the view that Africa will not develop until it can produce its own experts in 21st-century technologies.

The school, located on the beach in Cape Town, is financed primarily by the South African government. Faculty from all over the world come to Cape Town to participate with only a stipend to pay their expenses.

Copyright © 2009. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.