The International Competition of Young Physicists will bring together young physics talents from around the world to test their knowledge and research results, and as a new unusual part, to showcase their creativity and communication skills. Competitors will be challenged to solve open-ended research problems while preparing like optimising the flight distance of a rubber band or estimating the number of objects in a box by the sound of its shaking. The English-language team competition not only inspires physics teaching and research, but also serves to build the future international scientist community.

World competition in Budapest

At the opening ceremony on 11 July, participants were welcomed at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics by Veronika Varga-Bajusz, State Secretary for Higher Education, Vocational and Adult Education and Youth, Ernő Rubik, Kossuth Prize-winning architect and inventor, Charaf Hassan, Rector of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and Imre Kacskovics, Dean of the ELTE Faculty of Science.

The competition will be hosted at ELTE's Lágymányos Campus, as well as the Science Talk event on 12 July, which will be available online. The scientific programme will also feature László Kiss, Széchenyi Prize-winning physicist and academic, and Ferenc Krausz, Nobel Prize-winner in 2023. László Kiss will give his lecture titled "Where is everybody? The Fermi paradox and the hunt for extraterrestrial life", the lecture given by Ferenc Krausz will be titled "SUB-ATOMIC MOTIONS: from capturing electrons to protecting human health".

The final round  will be on 16 July, on the Bosh Budapest Engineering Center. The results will be announced on the 16 July, Tuesday, Balázs Hankó, Minister for Culture and Innovation, will give a speech at the  event.

"Every year, the Hungarian team is prepared by the staff and students of the ELTE Institute of Physics and Astronomy, and the Hungarian competitors won gold medals in 2017, silver medals in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and bronze medals in 2018 and 2019 at the international competition," said Mihály Hömöstrei, Master Lecturer at ELTE, Head of the Local Organising Committee of IYPT2024.

"Young people are the innovators of the future. Young talents are greatly needed, as they are the scientists and professionals who will drive the world forward with their innovations. At Bosch, we believe in young people, and we have a number of programmes to support the high school age group. We are happy to support the international physics competition, which can be an important step in the professional development of the competitors," said András Kemler, Head of real estate management of the Bosch Group in Hungary and the Adriatic region.

Situational awareness, argumentation, teamwork - it's not just theoretical knowledge that counts

What makes IYPT stand out compared to other student science competitions is that instead of competing on paper, young people present and discuss specific research problems in the roles of presenter, opponent and judge. In addition to understanding the issues raised, the competition also emphasises quick thinking and situational awareness, persuasive argumentation, English language skills and teamwork.

In order to qualify for the 5-member national team, you first have to perform well in the national round, and then you have to qualify during an intensive preparation period including several months of experimental and theoretical research, communication training and training camps.

Students spend a whole year preparing for the competition

The team members have almost a year to work on the open-ended research problems they have been given. The problems set involve complex physical systems and have no published solutions. The task of the contestants is to understand the phenomena as precisely as possible, to search for research methods, to formulate and test hypotheses, and finally to come up with approximate formulas and theoretical interpretations with the widest possible validity. All this is defended by the students in a scientific debate.

This year's 17 challenging and analytical problems include: estimating the number of objects placed in a box based on the sound effect of shaking the box; investigating the optical properties of a water droplet placed on a glass surface; optimising the flight distance of a stretched and released rubber band; explaining the sound effects of bending a large, thin and flexible plate; testing magnetic gears; and investigating the pumping speed in a water pump made from a straw.

More information and the detailed programme are available in English on the Hungarian and international websites of the competition.

Photo by Attila Csomos

Source: elte.hu