On the Winner’s Podium

It was a huge success for the PhotonLab at this year’s German Young Physicists’ Tournament (GYPT): one of our teams took home a bronze medal! Additionally, two of our participants advanced to the next round and now have the chance of competing on the national team and representing Germany this year in July at the 31st International Young Physicists Tournament (IYPT) in Beijing, China.

There was excitement in the air at this year’s GYPT, which took place at the Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft’s Center for Physics in Bad Honnef in February. There to compete for the title of Physics Champion were 85 young scientists from all over Germany. Prior to the event, each team received the same 17 challenging physics problems to solve, each of which had more than one correct answer. At the tournament the teams were asked to present their solutions to a jury and try to convince them that theirs was the best one. Among the topics addressed in the 17 problems, were Heron’s fountain, which is implemented in coffee machines and the Bottle-Flip, a challenge that involves throwing a plastic water bottle, typically full or partially full of liquid, into the air so that it rotates, in an attempt to land it upright on its bottom. Another one of the 17 tasks asked participants to explain why light sources that are photographed at night appear to have a star-shaped form. The Tournament language is English, which simultaneously prepares students for the IYPT and underlines the internationality of physics.

The PhotonLab would like to congratulate Sara Taube, Gesa Dünnweber and Jakob Then.