Computational nanoscience helps researchers address challenging problems in the development of nanotechnology devices. By using computer models, researchers can simulate wide classes of materials and related phenomena at the nanoscale, ranging from novel semiconductors to biological and soft matter.

ICTP's Spring College on Computational Nanoscience, being held from 17 to 28 May in Trieste, is introducing the fundamentals of nanoscience and nanotechnology to nearly 150 young scientists, the majority of whom come from developing countries.

Computational nanoscience is used increasingly to complement experimental work, harnessing the predictive power and atomic resolution of quantum simulations to describe molecular architectures exactly at a scale of hundreds of thousands of atoms, where the most promising and undiscovered properties could be engineered.

"The emergence of genuinely new phenomena at the nanoscale creates a great need for theory, modelling and large-scale computer simulation in order to understand them," said school director Sandro Scandolo of ICTP's Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics section.

Lectures during the school are covering such topics as electronic, optical and mechanical properties at the nanoscale, control and assembly of nanoscale structures, and biological, inorganic/organic and biomimetic materials (human-made substances that imitate nature).

During the School, ICTP will present its prestigious Dirac Medal to two scientists, Roberto Car and Michele Parrinello, whose development of a molecular simulation method has provided an all-important quantitative understanding of the properties of matter, while also allowing scientists and laymen alike to visualise atoms in motion during physical and chemical processes.

More details about the school can be found here.