[20/05/2025]
The Director of the Latin American Center for Physics (CLAF), Ulisses Barres de Almeida, visited Santiago, Chile, from April 28 to 30, 2025, with the objective of discussing the activities currently being planned at CLAF for cooperation with Chilean research institutions.
Through visits to the Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission (CCHEN), the Millennium Institute for Subatomic Physics at High Energies (SAPHIR), and the Brazilian Embassy in Santiago, the Director sought to explore new avenues of collaboration between CLAF and research groups in strategic areas for Latin American physics, such as nuclear fusion and high-energy physics. These topics are currently central to CLAF’s activities and include strong Chilean participation.
The visit took place in the context of the recent establishment of a new Thematic Unit at CLAF dedicated to the topic of Nuclear Fusion, coordinated by Dr. Leopoldo Soto, a researcher at CCHEN and Chile’s representative to CLAF’s Board of Directors. Furthermore, Chile’s imminent accession as an associate member of CERN —the European Organization for Nuclear Research— becoming the second South American country after Brazil to join one of the world’s most important and technologically advanced physics laboratories, places particle physics at the forefront of regional scientific cooperation.
During his stay in Chile, Ulisses Barres also took part in the recording of a television program on the T13 channel, hosted by Dr. Leopoldo Soto, on the topic Big Science: A Driver of Industry, where CLAF was presented as a key center supporting the development of physics in Latin America.
Finally, Ulisses Barres also gave a seminar at the Department of Astronomy of Universidad Andrés Bello, where he discussed the role of another of CLAF’s Thematic Units, the Astroparticle Physics Unit, which holds strategic relevance in fostering Latin American cooperation in this field. Latin America is home to a large number of observatories of global relevance, such as the Pierre Auger and HAWC observatories, operating in Argentina and Mexico respectively, and the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) and the Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO), both located in Chile and currently under construction.
At the conclusion of the visit, Ulisses Barres met with officials at the Brazilian Embassy in Santiago, where he discussed plans to strengthen CLAF’s role as a center for scientific diplomacy in Latin America, contributing to regional integration through collaborative physics research, particularly in strategic areas for the continent’s development and engagement with regional industry.