The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) contacted me to create a film to celebrate its 50th anniversary. I was asked to interview seven distinguished physicists around the world who, supported by the Centre, had become successful scientists and game-changers on the global stage. The Centre was founded in 1964 by the Pakistani Nobel Laureate Abdul Salam. He had the idea of connecting advanced Western physicists to those in developing countries, who were isolated and had no access to the latest information and discoveries in this particular scientific field. The ambition was considerable: a global network of scientists united by the same universal language – mathematics. With the help of Thai graphic designer Ambhika Samsen we used chalk drawings on a blackboard to tell part of the story. Chalk is what physicists generally use to communicate their work and logic processes through equations and numbers. It is a humble and easily accessible material available even in poor countries. This graphic element gave us the possibility to communicate visually complex concepts that had happened in the past and could not, therefore, be filmed.