Professor Allotey is guest on CNN African Voices

CNN African Voices, sponsored by Nigeria’s telecommunications company, Glo, will this weekend shift focus from comedy to science as Ghana’s most famous mathematical scientist takes centre stage on the show.

The 30-minute magazine programme last week had the God Father of Nigerian comedy, Ali Baba, as the celebrity guest.

But this weekend, CNN, backed by the sponsors Glo, will bring to television viewers the man behind ‘the Allotey Formalism Theory’ - Professor Francis Kofi Ampenyin Allotey, a statement from Glo to the GNA said.

African Voices will be aired on CNN International at 0930 hours on Friday, 0330 hours and 1530 hours on Saturday and at 2330 hours and 1830 hours on Sunday.

Viewers can also watch the show during the repeat broadcasts on Monday at 1030 hours and on Tuesday at 0 430 hours.

Born in 1932 in Saltpond, Prof. Allotey has for decades been a phenomenal inspirer and influence in the study of Physics and Mathematics in Ghanaian schools, colleges and universities.

He was the first to introduce computer education in Ghana and is the Founder and First Director of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Computer Centre.

He became a living legend and world authority when he developed the “Allotey Formalism" for which he 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.

A founding fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, the scientist in 1974 became the first Ghanaian full professor of mathematics and head of the Department of Mathematics at KNUST.?

Allotey is the President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of a number of international scientific organizations 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.