As part of TWAS 2003 Beijing Meetings,the academy held its 20th anniversary celebrations on Oct 17 at Beijing International Convention Center. The festivities included congratualtion remarks by TWAS founding members, a talk on TWAS past and future by TWAS Executive Director M.H.A. Hassan, an Abdus Salam Medal Lecture for Science and Technology by P. Budinich from Italy,and an anniversary lecture by TWAS President C.N.R. Rao.
TWAS was founded in Trieste, Italy in 1983 by a distinguished group of scientists from the South under the leadership of the late Nobel laureate Abdus Salam of Pakistan.
Now the academy's has more than 600 Fellows and Associate Fellows who are elected from among the world's most distinguished scientists. About 80 percent of TWAS's membership are Fellows representing some 60 countries in the South.
