spg mitteilungen communications de la ssp - Schweizerische ...

SPG Mitteilungen Nr. 40
2013 PSI Summer School on Condensed Matter Research:
Materials - structure and magnetism
August 17-23, 2013, Lyceum Alpinum, Zuoz, Switzerland
The 12 th edition of the PSI summer school on condensed
matter physics is open for registration. This year the school
will be dedicated to some of the main topics addressed at
large scale user facilities such as neutron and muon sources
or synchrotron photon sources: Materials - structure
and magnetism.
International experts and PSI staff members will introduce
and deepen your knowledge not only about these scientific
topics but also about the main methods applied to understand
the phenomena, which are presently at the forefront
of modern solid state physics and chemistry.
The school is fully open to the national and non-national
public and the language of the school is English.
Following the school a practical training is offered at PSI. It
will allow a limited number of participants to get hands-on
experience with state-of-the-art instrumentation using photons,
neutrons, and muons.
More information, the school’s programme and online registration
is available from the school’s webpage:
http://www.psi.ch/summerschool
19 th Swiss Physics Olympiad 2013 (SPhO) in Aarau
The final round of the Swiss Physics Olympiad took place
on March 23/24 in Aarau at the Neue Kantonsschule. The
competition was held between twenty-four students from
Switzerland and two from Liechtenstein.
The selection process began in January with a preliminary
round with a record participation of over 100 students, a
success with 50% more participation than in earlier years.
The students, aged between 16 and 20, had the chance to
prepare for the final round at a three day training
session at EPFL. The final round consisted of two
challenging days, totalling no less than six and a
half hours of theoretical and experimental exams,
something like a Marathon! The top five participants
– gold medals - will have the unique opportunity
to travel to Denmark to represent Switzerland
at the International Physics Olympiad in July.
The award ceremony was a dedicated moment with talks
and piano pieces, where one could feel the mood of the
accomplished effort. After an excellent pedagogical talk by
Gabriel Palacios on Fraunhofer lines, president of SPhO, it
was the tour of the Swiss Physical Society – who is sponsoring
the event – to present the mission and vision of the
Society, and to proceed to the awards distribution.
Antoine Pochelon, SPS Secretary
The absolute best was Lukas Lang, from Liechtenstein.
Followed just next by Sven Pfeiffer, from Münsingen (BE)
and Rafael Winkler, from Mettauertal (AG). The SPS was
happy to deliver the woman award to Viviane Kehl, from
Küsnacht (ZH) who already illustrated herself in the preliminary
round as 4 th and at the time best of the present Swiss
winner group.
Such an event is the opportunity to strengthen
contact with offspring and teachers in a nice and
stimulating climate. As summarized by Markus
Meier, the local organizer: I hope and believe that
this event (with SPS presentation and award giving)
is the first and also successful contact of the
SPS to future physicists. And truly, at this occasion
young people of 15 or 16 were asking how to become
member of the SPS and how they could be better
informed about courses, seminars, ateliers … : a hint for the
SPS to be well present for the young leaves.
PS: Let us note that in Switzerland such Olympiads - in addition
to Physics (www.swisspho.ch) - are also organized in
Biology, Chemistry, Informatics, Mathematics, Philosophy
(www.olympiads.ch).
The four recipients of the SPS awards: Sven Pfeiffer (first Swiss), Rafael Winkler (second Swiss), Viviane Kehl (first woman) and Lukas
Lang (first Liechtensteiner and absolut best)
26