Developing countries are, by definition, striving to develop their economies and infrastructures, along with educational and perhaps other social systems. The pursuit of physics might not spring to mind as the first way to engage in such development, but it can and often does work hand-in-hand with national and regional goals. (See “Promoting Physics and Development in Africa” by Edmund Zingu, Physics Today, January 2004, page 37 and “Physics in Latin America Comes of Age” by José Luis Morán-López, Physics Today, October 2000, page 38.)
The story of the Asian African Association for Plasma Training (AAAPT) provides an interesting case study of one group that has done much to strengthen plasma research in developing countries. Its core program is a practical, hands-on scientific enterprise that has been successful not only at building the educational, industrial, and research capacities at particular institutions, but also at propagating those capacities...
