Mário de Almeida Pavilion, CLAF Building
The Latin American Center for Physics (CLAF) is an international organization whose objective is to promote and coordinate efforts for the development of Physics in Latin America.
CLAF was created on March 26, 1962, at a meeting promoted by UNESCO and the Brazilian Government in Rio de Janeiro, with the participation of twenty Latin American countries.
The agreement establishing CLAF was signed by: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
The following countries confirmed the agreement at its creation: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela – the current Member States of CLAF.
CLAF maintains relations with various international organizations: with UNESCO, in its offices in Paris and Uruguay; with the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, a UNESCO body, with which there is also a collaboration agreement for relatively less developed countries and cooperative doctoral scholarships; with the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, whose Scientific Council includes the director of CLAF and with which it has initiated a scholarship program; and with CERN in Geneva, with which Latin American physics schools are organized.
CLAF's central headquarters are located at the Brazilian Center for Physics Research (CBPF) in Rio de Janeiro.
MISSION AND VISION
MISSION: To foster and facilitate the study and development of Physics in Latin American and Caribbean countries, through the promotion of collaborations and exchanges between institutions and individuals from these and other countries, as well as assistance in the training of human resources and the acquisition of the necessary financial resources for this purpose.
VISION: The contribution to scientific and technological development for peaceful purposes and to the integration of Latin American and Caribbean countries through education and research in Physics and related sciences, with the aim of achieving a better quality of life for their inhabitants and the more rational use of their natural resources, from an ethical perspective and addressing issues of gender, accessibility, and inclusion.