“The Four(er) Vectors” won the international physics competition PLANCKS
The winners of the German physics competition DOPPLERS also won the international competition PLANCKS in Odense, Denmark. Sven Jandura from the LMU Munich, Eugen Dizer from the University of Heidelberg and Friedrich Hübner and Kilian Bönisch, both from the University of Bonn, clearly set themselves apart from the other teams with 84 out of 100 possible points. Second was a Serbian team with 76.5 points.
Bad Honnef, Germany, 20. May 2019 – Germany was represented by three teams. The other two German teams: “kʷetwórī́k̑m̥̥tihdwóh₁” (which in Old Indo-European should mean “42″) and “Schrödingers Chimera” reached 16th and 22nd place respectively. A total of 34 mainly European teams took part.
PLANCKS and DOPPLERS are ambiguous acronyms which stand for “Physics League Across Numerous Countries for Kick-Ass Students” and “Deutsche Olympiade im Physik-Probleme-Lösen Eiftrig Rätselnder Studierender” (German Olympiad in Physics Problem Solving Zealously Puzzling Students) respectively and at the same time allude to the famous physicists Max Planck and Christian Doppler. Max Planck is regarded as the founder of quantum physics and Christian Doppler was the first to describe the so-called Doppler effect, a phenomenon of compression or stretching of sound or light waves, which is why ambulance sirens, for example, sound higher when they approach you and lower when the ambulance moves away.
The aim of these student puzzle competitions is to solve theoretical, physical problems in a four-hour exam, without having even known the subject beforehand and without being allowed to use technical literature. Only coffee and lots of sweets were allowed.
For more information:
- www.plancks-2019.sdu.dk/files/PLANCKS2019-Scores.pdf (PLANCKS 2019 Scores)
- http://www.plancks-2019.sdu.dk/index.html (PLANCKS homepage)
- https://www.facebook.com/PLANCKS2019/ (PLANCKS on Facebook)
The German Physical Society (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft e. V.; DPG), which was founded way back in 1845, is the oldest national and, with more than 60,000 members, also the largest physical society in the world. As a non-profit-making organisation it pursues no economic interests. The DPG promotes the transfer of knowledge within the scientific community through conferences, events and publications, and aims to open a window to physics for the curious. Its special focuses are on encouraging junior scientists and promoting equal opportunities. The DPG’s head office is at Bad Honnef am Rhein. Its representative office in the capital is the Magnus-Haus Berlin. Website: www.dpg-physik.de
