Prof. Francis Allotey, Ghana’s renowned physicist, will be the special guest on this weekend’s edition of CNN African Voices sponsored by Globacom, Nigeria’s telecommunications company.
This is a shift from comedy which was the focus of last week’s edition with the God Father of Nigerian comedy, Ali Baba, as celebrity guest.
African Voices will be aired on CNN International at 9.30am on Friday, 3.30 am and 3.30pm on Saturday and at 11.30pm and 6.30pm on Sunday. Viewers can also watch the show during the repeat broadcasts on Monday at 10:30am and on Tuesday at 4.30am.
Prof. Allotey was born in 1932, in Saltpond, Ghana. He has for decades been a phenomenal inspirer and influence in the study of physics and mathematics in Ghanaian schools. He was the first to introduce computer education into Ghana and is the founder and first director of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Computer Centre.
The “Allotey Formalism” theory which he developed catapulted him to the status of legend and world authority. He also received the Prince Philip Gold Medal Award in 1973. The theory arose from his work on soft X-ray spectroscopy and attempts to explain what happens when an atom is bombarded by external particles and is most relevant for space research.
He is a founding fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, and in 1974 the scientist became the first Ghanaian full professor of mathematics and head of the Department of Mathematics at the KNUST.
He is the president of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of a number of international scientific organisations including the International Institute of Theoretical and Applied Physics (ICTP) Scientific Council since 1996. He is the Chairman of Board of Trustees of the Accra Institute of Technology (AIT), the President of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Ghana (AIMS-Ghana) and the President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS).
He believes the next Einstein should come from Africa and is working to inspire the next generation of African scientists.