Section Starting

Posted on 16/07/201811/10/2019 by YM Webmaster

The Young Minds section of the University of Liège was created recently (May 2018). During the past months, our group has organized a “get-to-know-us” presentation for physics and space science students (masters, PhD and post-docs). It sparked great interest for the Young Minds activity in the Liège physics community. The objective was also to brainstorm ideas of activities to be organized for the upcoming academic year 2018-2019. This meeting, along with three other group reunions over two weeks, lead us to the idea of a networking event under the theme “Physics and Sport” (see the corresponding document for more details), during which we will test activities we plan using to create an outreach event destined to high school students. It also allowed us to gather motivated PhD students with experience in science outreach event (sci-fi movies analyses, broad audience communication, …) and effectively reinforce the initial team. We have also made contact with a local organization specialized in the field of science popularization at the University of Liège (“Réjouiscience” – http://rejouisciences.uliege.be) and they showed enthusiasm in collaborating with us in the organization of physics outreach events. We committed to participating in the next edition of their “Printemps des Sciences”, a yearly, high-impact science fair week for schools and general public in the Liège area. Members of our team are also dedicating their time to the construction of a website (www.ymliege.uliege.be) and a Facebook page (“YMLiège”) for more visibility. We created a public mail address: youngminds@uliege.be.

Our group takes the opportunity to be part of the Young Minds network very seriously, and we think we are off to a great start. We hope that the aforementioned activities testifiy our motivation for holding physics-related events and for growing the Young Minds network.

Film screening “Kwantumrevolutie”

Posted on 16/07/2018 by YM Webmaster

In our latest event we held a screening of the Flemish documentary Kwantumrevolutie (Quantum Revolution). This documentary narrates the chronological discoveries concerning quantum mechanics, like Thomas Young’s double-slit experiment and Albert Einstein’s Photoelectric effect. The director of this documentary has a Master degree in both the Audiovisual Arts and Physics, which makes him the ideal person to narrate this topic. Since the physics behind all of these surprising experiments is explained clearly and shown intuitively, this movie forms a great introduction to quantum mechanics for those who are not yet familiar with its basic concepts. Moreover, the way these experiments are portrayed in a historical context also makes the documentary enjoyable for scientists who are more well-versed on this subject.

The documentary also focuses on the important role Belgium played in solving these quantum conundrums. The Belgian industrialist Ernest Solvay founded The International Solvay Institutes for Physics and Chemistry and facilitated the famous Solvay Conferences. During these conferences the issue with quanta, atoms, electrons and more, were thoroughly discussed by leading international scientists. The documentary narrates the story of the members of the first conferences and their important findings which have led to the quantum theory as we know it today. Not only does this documentary quench the thirst for historical and scientific knowledge, it also provides a prime example of how interdisciplinary and international collaborations can lead to a brilliant outcome.

In summary, this meticulous portrayal of the history and physical consequences of the quantum theory is an absolute must-see for anyone with an interest in modern physics, and we are proud to have reached a quite international and diverse public made up of members from the whole Science faculty with our screening.

Let’s make fun with science: colors and soap bubbles

Posted on 16/07/2018 by YM Webmaster

The EPS Young Mind Section of Rome was very productive in 2017 with the “Let’s make fun with science: Sun, light and colored shadows” project, aimed at discovering the concepts of light and colors through different experiments. This project has been partially founded by the 2017 Activity Grant and has been described in the last January 2018 Report.
In the first months of 2018, we ideally carried on this journey through the project “Let’s make fun with science: colors and soap bubbles”. In fact, even if apparently they are very simple, soap bubbles are the realization of many physical phenomena all together. First of all, their shape allows to explore the concept of surface tension of liquids. But even more, the colors appearing and disappearing on their surface force to wonder about the nature of light and colors. In particular, a deep understanding of how soap bubbles work requires the knowledge of many concepts related to waves, such as the Sun spectrum, the frequency, the wavelenght, but also interference and diffraction. For this reason, soap bubbles can be used at different levels: to create a fun activity for kids, to make physics students wonder about optics and Sun spectrum, and to give high school teachers a way through which they can explain interference to their students. The EPS Young Minds Section of Rome have tried to develop each of this ways.

We began with kids. During the event “Eyes on the Moon”, hosted by the Physics Department of Roma Tre University on February 23th, we used buckets, dishwashing liquid and straws in order to give children the opportunity to create their own soap bobbles of different sizes and shapes. With older people, including high school students, we organized afteroon activities adding a more detailed explanation of what happens in a soap film drawing optical waves on cardstocks, and using simple spectrometers to show the Sun spectrum. Moreover, with a more selected public, such as high school teachers or adults, we tried to explain what happens with a soap film on a can. In fact, if you try to make a soap film on one side of a can, and try to arrange it vertically, you will see that strips of different color will form. Their colors will alternanate, providing a great way to see, in practice, destructive and constructive interferences of waves.
At the end, the “Let’s make fun with science: colors and soap bubbles” project had more than 300 participants between primary, secondary schools students teachers and general public.

Encouraging networking among undergraduate students

Posted on 16/07/2018 by YM Webmaster

At the beginning of 2018 we felt that we could try to expand the EPS Yound Minds Section of Rome with new members. The “Let’s make room for science” and “Let’s make fun with science” projects – partially founded by the 2017 Activity Grant – were fun and effective for the general public, but they also succeeded in creating interest toward the Section, especially among physics students of Roma Tre University, in Rome. For this reason, we organized at the Mathematics and Physics Department of the University of Roma Tre an opening event, during which the older members of the Section showed the activities we carried out these years. We started by advertising the event through the students’ Facebook pages and the University bulletin boards. Then, the day of the event, we placed some of the exhibits developed by the Section in the astronomical garden of the Mathematics and Physics Department of the University of Roma Tre, the AstroGarden.

In particular, we used the space-time exhibit, which easily attracted the attention of those present simulating the curvature of space-time using a trampoline and different masses. The thermal imager was also used, in order to show the concept of temperature and transformation of energy: even if Physics students should be used to such concept, seeing the thermal footprint they left on a table always creates wonder! Moreover, one of the professors of the Department has lent us some of his experiments concerning electromagnetism, together with solenoids and magnets.
In less than an hour, a fairly large group of people was talking about science, but not only: we talked about the University life, its problems, and all the different activities that could be developed in the near future to help students to create network, and not feel alone. At this point, the president of the Section, Adriana, showed some slides to explain the activities of the Section, inviting everyone to join it. Then, she officially opened the buffet: sandwiches, pizzas and beverages for everyone! And of course, the event could not end without a cake!

The opening event took place in June 2018, and it had more than 20 participants. We plan to organize more events during the year, especially when the University courses will start again. In the meantime, we have already welcomed two new members of the Section!

Atoms about atoms

Posted on 16/07/2018 by YM Webmaster

According to our activity grant we have awarded 490 Euro for visiting 3 villages, organizing summer school, quizzes and building test devices.
We would like to note that because of the Velvet Revolution during March-May in Armenia and not calm situation in our country our plans have changed and we could not complete all of the activities reported in our grant request. Two school visits we will be finished within upcoming months.
However, we have organized the following activities in Armenia:
1. Summer School in Tumanyan village (25.06.2018-30.06.2018 Tumanyan, Lori province): We have organized activities about several topics: mechanical waves, optics, electromagnetic waves. During the classes children had opportunity to get basic knowledge and ask a lot of questions from real life. High school students were from 8th and 9th classes. And we have tried to cover all questions asked by them during the school with experiments prepared in advance.
2. Paper, plastic and glass is not a waste (9 events in Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Ashtarak): We have teamed up with “Eco Waste” project and organized cleanups and collected more than 5300 kilograms of paper and 100 kilograms of plastic bottles and sent them to recycling as in Armenia there are huge problems concerning these issues: not all people are well educated and don’t sort trash.

All these events were conducted with a quiz, where our members approached participants and tested the basic knowledge in Physics and Astronomy. Winners got stickers and get acquainted with Yerevan Young Minds activities.
3. We have visited the Byurakan village (40 km far from Yerevan) for demonstrating simple experiments for 8 year old children from Byurakan village. Experiments were simple but the questions were very interesting for us.
Besides outreach event, with SPIE Yerevan chapters, we have involved in organizing committee of 5th International Advanced School on Frontiers in Optics & Photonics, 22-27 June, 2018.
Furthermore, we have awarded for the May Awesome Idea from The Awesome Foundation. Idea was to build equipment for schools with a help of students, which don’t have any practical experience because of universities. We have collaborated with Teach for Armenia and will choose schools located in the most remote parts of our country to visit and to give scientific tool kits consisting of equipment necessary for demonstrations of basic experiments from the textbooks.

We have established official Facebook page, called Yerevan Young Minds and it is already more than 400 followers and our group Science and Innovation has around 200 members. Due to social media we have received lots of invitations for visiting schools. So, we are almost succeeding in our mission to build a strong platform for answering Physics related questions.

School for Young Physicists

Posted on 16/07/2018 by YM Webmaster

One more year for SYP has finished, and the upward trajectory for student interest has steadily held up. In the beginning of the year, we reported record numbers of attendance, and that continued throughout the entire season.

In addition to crowd-pleasing topics we looked at in the first semester, the second semester featured sessions on constructional physics, electronics, solid state physics, food physics and, finally, chaos theory. Highlights from these sessions include building model houses and testing them against shaking to imitate an earthquake and even advanced lectures in chaos theory and solid state physics that touched on master’s level physics, and yet students enjoyed them immensely.

The 3rd School Cup competition also came to a close, and it was essentially a photo-finish. Teams battled for points until the final session, and the winning team beat out their rivals only by one point – to give perspective, the total point count for the winning team was about 300 points. Teams from various schools showed their mettle all year, performing well on tests as well as showing ability in the four creative extra tasks that were given to them. The best teams were also awarded prizes for their hard work.

Additionally to the main sessions, regional sessions in cities were also still held – more than ever. Cities of Valmiera, Ventspils, Rezekne and Liepaja saw numerous sessions take place – and Rezekne even had 7 sessions, which is only two less than in our capital!

All in all, the 8th season of SYP was a resounding success, and we will look to keep building on this success to increase our output and outreach even more, allowing more students to see that physics education can be fun indeed!

This year, our Young Minds section participated in the first ever physics festival in Latvia – an event solely for the popularization of physics and science for the public. Almost all groups that do physics outreach were gathered in the same venue – which means our team was also their. Multiple experiment workshops were set up, and a competition for middle-schoolers also took place. The event was a success, as the amount of visitors from the general public attending went up to a few thousand.

The event was well covered – it garnered enough attention for some TV and radio coverage. Feedback from the public was very positive, and that means this will be no one hit wonder – another festival for physics is in the works for next year, and our section will certainly attend next year as well.

International Particle Physics Masterclasses 2018

Posted on 16/07/201816/07/2018 by YM Webmaster

This year’s International Particle Physics Masterclasses were held at the FNSPE CTU in Prague. This annual event, traditionally held during the first four months of the year in many institutions around the world, gives 15- to 19-year-old high school students an opportunity to discover and become familiar with particle physics. Speaking in numbers, approximately 10.000 high school students from 47 countries participate every year, effectively obtaining insight into topics and methods of basic research. The students are not only allowed to spend a whole day outside of school without being considered a truant, but they also receive a chance to choose and carry out an experiment themselves by performing measurements on real data from particle physics experiments at CERN. Almost 200 universities or research centers are involved in this project.

This year, the event took place on March 9, at the faculty’s headquarters with 60 registered and 53 participating high-school students. The Czech part of the project is being organized in cooperation with the International Particle Physics Outreach Group, Prague EPS Young Minds section, and CERN. The students are given a unique opportunity to obtain insight into the day-to-day business of a particle physicist without the necessity of any prior knowledge of the subject.
Also, on February 12th, Masterclasses dedicated to women students exclusively were organized. The principle is the same, aiming to encourage young women to study physics and related fields and also the programme of the event had the same structure as the Masterclasses held in March.

In the morning, the students attended a series of instructive lectures given by scientists working at CERN, whereas in the afternoon, an actual data analysis from two major LHC experiments – LHCb and ATLAS – was carried out. This year, they could either find the Higgs boson at the ATLAS or discover b-physics at the LHCb experiment. The results of the whole group were merged and during a video conference presented to experts at CERN and students from other institutes from all over the world, where International Particle Physics Masterclasses were held on the same day.

At the very end, the organizers thanked the students for participating and the most active ones of them, as well as the speakers who talked to CERN during the conference, were awarded prizes of the organizers’ choosing. During the day, organizers took care of having the lunch delivered as well as the preparation of refreshments, beverages, and coffee for participating students.

Science4People BU Story!

Posted on 12/07/2018 by YM Webmaster

“From a principle to a dream the story was”
We were a small group consist of students from Bethlehem University, who believed in the message of sunshine4Palestine team. For this reason, we decided to join them as science4people BU team, at this point we decided to take our first step and begin from somewhere.
AL-Masoudi primary school for girls was our first destination. We introduced 7 scientific experiments for kids their ages between 6-8 years old. We were so proud to say that 90 students enjoyed our first event. Our experiments were simple and easy as the ones we taught from the sunshine4Palestine team when they visited us. At the end, despite all the circumstances that faced us when we held this event, we can say that it was the first step for us toward another success.

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”
In our second event we moved to one of the biggest colleges in Bethlehem, to Terra Santa College. We presented 10 new and not classical science experiments for students from 8th grade, who were almost 100 students. Our experiments were interesting and useful, which give the students new information, and give them a chance to practice what they learned previously. This was another step for us toward our goals and success.

“We were so excited to continue what we began”
Our next destination was the Lutheran Evangelical school, in this event we change our strategy by trained a group of school students to stand with us and present the experiments for their colleagues. WE presented 20 experiments for students who their ages were between 13 – 18 years old. The experiments were suitable for all the students who came, they were simple, but at the same time they need thinking and analyzing. We can say that we are happy that more than 230 students were with us and enjoyed our experiments.

“The ball is in our court”
We always take the advantage of any event that gets anywhere to develop and expand our team, and to help us achieve our goals, we continued our journey in the Bethlehem University Science Fair, in which we got a special place to present our experiments to the biggest attendees, more than 400 students from different schools visited us in a two days event! We presented more than 25 experiments.

Science4People BU story did not end, we will provide you with the next parts soon!

Visit to the Astronomical park in Isnello

Posted on 12/07/2018 by YM Webmaster

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Since ancient times, the study of the sky was not only of fundamental importance for life, but was always accompanied by a sense of fear and fascination linked to the magic of the cosmos. The scientific discoveries lead us to better knowledge of the universe and its boundaries.
In this frame, we organized a guided tour of the astronomical park “Gal Hassin” in Isnello, in the province of Palermo. It was a unique and formative experience for all the participants that had the possibility to visit and enjoy a park dedicated to the history of astronomy, as well as a spectacular planetarium, and of making night observation of the sky by means of professional telescopes.
After the bus trip from Messina to Isnello, the guided tour started visiting the outdoor astronomical laboratory, the “park of time and space”, with various types of solar clocks and other instruments such as the “Hipparchus Circle”.
Afterwards, we moved to the Planetarium. This fascinating educational machine for the reproduction of the celestial vault, with a dome of 10 m of diameter, is the first digital astronomical planetarium of Sicily; the entire dome is illuminated by 6 high resolution video projectors that make up the 360° image of the whole sky. Isnello’s Planetarium has been a powerful tool for the dissemination of astronomical concepts where the participants have been involved in a charming tour among the Moon, the Sun, the Milky Way galaxy with its constellations, Mars, Saturn, many other celestial bodies and curiosity about our universe.
Anyway, the most awaited moment was the night observation of the sky. So, in a terrace with 12 instruments for astronomical observations, after an initial introduction on several celestial bodies visible to the naked eye, the staff of the park guided us to the use of the different telescopes that allow the observation of planets and nebulae. In particular we could directly observe the Moon and Saturn.
Just after this, a “surprise” refreshment was offered to all the participants by the staff of the park.
The 54 participants were enthusiastic about this amazing experience and they appreciated the economic help received from EPS to pay part of the entrance ticket to the astronomical park.

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The Camera Obscura

Posted on 12/07/201812/07/2018 by YM Webmaster

Unfortunately during this year the Young Minds Section did not have any outreach activity with students in our Headquarters. Therefore we are not able to use the Human-Size camera obscura. However, we build different portable size camera obscura and we brougth it to our outreach activities in the schools. Next year we plan to be part of the science week organized by the University, in this case we are sure we can use the human-size camera obscura.
Regardless the problem to do this activity, the group made an effort to bring students a fresh vision about optics in different school activities, bringing brand new activities like dissecting cow eyes in order to show how an eye works and its parts. Moreover the group is concerned about the important of the gender equality, for this reason we continue collaborating with the city council in an activity called: “A woman scientist in each school” that is its third edition and has a big impact and good acceptance among teachers and students.
Moreover the group is concerned with the professional development of its members and the surrounding scientific community of the University of Santiago de Compostela, for this reason the group has organized several conferences and lectures this year about different topics in optics. In January we brought professor Pieter de Beule from the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory from Braga, Portugal, with the talk: Overview Research Activities Applied Nano-Optics Team. In March, Raul Rangel from CICESE (Mexico) made a conference called: Nano Structured materials for nonlinear optics and wave guiding devices. Finally, in July we brought Prof. Virendra Mahajan from the College of Optical Science with the talk entitled: Axial Irradiance of a focused beam.