The International Petra School of Physics (PSP) was founded in 1980/1981 by his Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal (then the Crown Prince of Jordan) and the late Professor Abdus Salam (founder of ICTP, Trieste) during a fleeting visit to Jordan. The School was sponsored by The University of Jordan, Amman, and Yarmouk university, Irbid, and co-sponsored by ICTP. The purpose of the school was to expose Jordanian and regional students, scientists, and engineers to modern developments in cutting-edge science. Subsequently, diligent efforts were made by faculty members at The University of Jordan and Yarmouk University, and the first (PSP1) took place in 1982, with the theme “Solid State Physics”. Then, PSP2 commenced in 1983 with the theme “Surface Physics”. After that, it was decided to continue organizing the school biennially, where PSP3 took place in 1985 with the theme: “Lazer Physics: Theory and Applications”. The great success of this school was evident in the advances made in the employment of fiber-optics in communications shortly after. For each of these schools we received up to $10,000 from ICTP as a co-sponsor. Then PSP4 (1987) and PSP5 (1989) commenced on schedule, and we received a minimum of $5000 from ICTP in support of each. The School was then interrupted as a consequence of the Iraqi war, where PSP6 took place in mid 1990s, while PSP7 took place in 2000. After that, the School was interrupted for a relatively long time, influenced by successive local, regional and international events. In the meantime, Prince El Hasan and his council continued efforts to revive the school. In 2015 special efforts were made to resume the School, and PSP8 took place in April 2016 with the theme “Low Dimensional Physics”, whereas PSP9 commenced in October 2018 with the theme “Nano Physics: Fundamentals and Applications”. After being interrupted by the COVID pandemic, the School is now underway.