2008 TED Prize winner Neil Turok sends these great photos from the new AIMS Research Centre, which is set to open May 12 in Muizenberg, Cape Town, South Africa. AIMS — the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences — promotes math and sciences education throughout Africa. Its goal is, quite simply, to find the next Einstein in Africa.

During a two-day festival starting this weekend, Neil Turok, AIMS director Fritz Hahne and the students of AIMS will dedicate the new AIMS Research Centre — and launch a drive to build a dozen more AIMS schools all over Africa. At the party: the head of NASA, two Nobel laureates, poets and musicians, and the 25 amazing students at AIMS, as well as Stephen Hawking, who’s expected to give his first-ever lecture in Africa. Look to the TED Blog and to TEDPrize.org for more reports!