-
- Physics world.
- Hello and welcome to the Physics World Weekly Podcast.
I'm Hammi Johnston.
In this episode, we explore the burgeoning field
of ATO second Science,
and we learn about the Plank's International Theoretical
Physics competition for students.
But first, the Institute of Physics
and Physics world are very proud
to be partners in the third annual commercializing Quantum
Global 2024 conference
held in London on the fifth and 6th of June.
The event is organized by Economist Impact,
and it will explore
how quantum technologies could be adopted
by businesses worldwide.
The winner of the IOP's, quantum Business Innovation
and Growth Prize
or Cubic, will also be unveiled at the event.
If you're a member of the Institute of Physics,
you can attend the conference free of charge,
which is a savings
of 1,299 pounds.
And if you're not a member of the IOP, why not join now
to take advantage of this offer
and the many other benefits of belonging
to the professional body
and learned Society for Physics in the UK and Ireland.
For further information about conference entry
and IOP membership,
please email the Institute on
membership@iop.org.
I will be at the conference along
with several colleagues from the Institute of Physics,
and we look forward to meeting you in London
and chatting about quantum mechanics and quantum technology.
The 2023 Nobel Prize for physics was begged by Anne
Luer, Ferentz Kraus,
and Pierre Augustini for developing methods
for creating extraordinarily short laser pulses.
Today, these attosecond scale pulses are being used
to understand the behavior of electrons in materials
and chemical reactions.
Next week on the 23rd of May, IOP publishing
and China's Jiang University are presenting the
I-O-P-P-Z-J-U International Symposium
on progress in Attosecond Science.
To preview the symposium, I spoke to three participants.
They are professor ing Lin at Jiang University,
who is chairing the symposium, professor Katarina Vai,
who is director of the Institute of Photonics
and Nanotechnology at Italy's National Research Council.
And she will be presenting at the symposium.
And I also spoke to IOP Publishings, Dr. David Chavet,
who is chief editor
of the journal Reports on Progress in Physics,
which is supporting the symposium.
Here is that conversation.
So Professor Lin, you're organizing the I-O-P-P-Z-J
International Symposium Progress in ado second science.
Can you tell us about the event
and why you've chosen to focus on attosecond science?
- So in this forthcoming confidence organized
by Jiang University
and, uh, Institute of Physics publisher, IOPP
is dedicated to the exploration
and expansion of Auto Second Science,
which is an interdisciplinary field at the cutting edge
of physics, chemistry, and biology.
So this, uh, joined, uh, conference is founded on our
commitment to fostering scientific innovation
and excellence, uh, through global collaboration.
So on the primary end of this conference is
to bring together the world's leading experts in other
second science to share their view
and their latest research, discuss theoretical
and experimental advancement,
and also explore new volunteers in a study
of ultra fast processes.
So by doing so, we end to catalyze significant
and, uh, facilitate a deep understanding of the fundamental
and processes that, uh, occur at the other second timescale.
So why we chosen this event is
because, uh, we think other second science
represent one of the most, uh, three, uh,
frontiers in modern physics.
Uh, actually its implications extend
beyond the traditional boundaries, infor influencing
material science, electronics medicine, and more.
As we know, the Nobel price in physics 2023
was avoided to appear.
Augustini Frank Klaus
and Ann Julia, for the experimental methods
that generate other second policies of light for the study
of electron dynamics in matter
on this conference will highlight the importance
of other second science as a er area of research
that has potential to, uh,
revolutionize our understanding of the nature
and then lead to technological innovations, uh,
previously may be, uh, impossible.
So I think that's basically is the purpose
of having this conference,
and also we why we focus on other second science this year.
- And Professor Lim can, can you give us an idea of, um, who
of who's going to be speaking at the conference?
- Okay. This symposium, uh, actually we
in might approximately like 15, uh, distinguished speakers
from various part of reward, uh, each contributing
to a a lot broad spectrum of topics.
So to highlight a few, uh, professor Hans Young Wolf
from ETH and, uh, his team
achieved the world record for the shortest pulse
of light ever measured at the 43 other seconds.
They, uh, he will present on auto chemistry
from isolated molecules through the liquid phase.
Professor Mark barking, director
of the Mark Bong Institute in Berlin were
explored the control of other second entanglement
and coherence, addressing key challenges in the field.
Then Professor GI Sony from the university
pipe who leads the other second
and a strong field physics group
will discuss other second metrology at the
pre electron lasers.
So besides the three distinct distinguisher speakers,
the other speakers, all Leonard
ex experts in other second science were sharing their
insights and research across various
topics within the field.
In additionally, I wanna mention that, uh, some
prominent domestic research leading significant groups in
other second science in China
will present their substantial, uh, contributions
during the conference.
So basically that those speakers will invite
- And, and Professor Vsi ado second science is,
is your field your specialty?
Can, can you give us a feeling, um, for, for
what attosecond science is,
- We can gen in general,
we can say the attosecond science is the study of
phenomena thatum, the timescale of attosecond.
So we need to understand what is an attosecond first,
and one outta attosecond is a billion
of a billion of a second.
So it's a very, very small amount of time, um, to understand
how small disease, we can say that there are approximately
as many attosecond in one second
as there are seconds in the age of the universe.
So it's really, really small,
and the attosecond is the shortest time scale, time,
time unit that can be measured by humans.
And this is also why, uh,
in the 2023 Nobel Prize physics, uh, the,
the, the generation
and measurement of attosecond pulses gained, uh, was gained
by unruly pini and ferra.
Um, why is this timescale so interesting?
Well, uh, it, it corresponds to the motion
of electrons, atos, and molecules.
Um, for instance, the rotation time
of an electron on the first bo orbit of the hydrogen aum is
around 150 attosecond.
So basically attosecond science is the study
of electron dynamics
and, uh, uh, with the attosecond light pulses,
we can probe and we may even be able
to control the rearrangement
of electrons in atoms and molecules.
And this is the motion at the basis
of all the process in physics
and most of the process in chemistry as well.
So attosecond science can have a huge impact on fundamental
knowledge because the generation
and manipulation of, uh, attosecond light pulses, uh,
allow the probing and control of these electrodynamics.
So maybe revealing new aspects in quantum mechanics,
chemistry and biology as an example,
attosecond science has shed light on the
photo unionization process.
So how an electron leaves a material
after the absorption of a photon.
Uh, attosecond spectroscopist has also, uh,
help researchers in understanding the electron behavior in
single molecules like, uh, electron charge migration
or like the breaking, uh, of chemical bonds.
Some recent attosecond experiment, uh, uh, uh,
have been also done in liquids
and materials opening the,
the route toward very interesting possible application.
Um, so we can say that the understanding
of life matter inter interaction enabled
by auto second science has
a very strong fundamental interest,
but there are also very interesting
and relevant possible technological application
because it's basically this understanding
of the very early stage of the electrodynamics.
Uh, the basis of, uh, physical processes, um,
may help investigating, for instance, the very early stage
of, uh, uh, charge transfer processes in light harvesting
materials such as parasite
or the role of the facts in semiconductor.
And for instance, like we can also try
to understand the timescale
for the coherence in quantum material that could be relevant
for quantum computing application.
- And so, uh, I mean, I would guess that, um, well,
I I I don't think, I'm guessing
that it's extraordinarily difficult.
Well, probably very difficult to,
to create an attosecond pulse, let alone coordinate it with,
um, with, with, with experimental, you know,
in an experiment with other things.
What what are the challenges faced by attosecond scientists
at the moment and,
and how are they being overcome in the community?
- There are still a lot of challenges, uh, in this field.
There are several fundamental aspects, uh,
of light matter interaction.
And the attosecond time scale that still remains,
uh, very challenging.
Uh, one is the presence of many degree
of freedom at the fundamental level.
Um, there are interconnection
because those degree of freedom in the system that you study
and like, uh, for instance, uh, electron
and nuclear degree of freedoms, they are interconnected
and are strongly coupled.
And we don't know, uh, yet exactly how,
and there are theoretical predictions suggesting
that the nuclear motion could kill the electronic clearance.
So this would probably, uh, hinder the possibility
of controlling electronic motion.
Also, the electron electron correlation in atom's, molecules
and material, it needs
to be taken into account in the understanding
of the ultra faster to second dynamics.
It's of crucial importance
and it it's important for making a correct description
of the ultrafast dynamics.
Most of the studies having done so far on isolated atoms
and molecules, and now, uh, for many studies, for instance,
in biomolecules, it's very important to also
to take into account the effect of the environment.
So maybe to do the experiment in liquids.
All of these, let's say, fundamental aspects, uh,
are now like challenges that are tackled, uh, with the help
of complex experiment,
but also a lot of sophisticated developments in theory
and numerical models, uh,
concerning the experimental point of view.
Um, the current challenges in auto second tech technologies
rely a lot on, on the development of bright
and reliable attosecond sources.
So to improve the signal to noise of the experiment
and allow new experiment to be done from this point of view,
one aspect is the generation of attosecond pulses in the
ex v more like, let's say deep in deep to be
or soft x-ray are even aray range.
And for this, uh, well, one, one, let's say one solution
that was developer was the driving
with the longer wavelength field,
but nowadays also the production of, uh, uh, attosecond, uh,
pulses at, uh, FEL.
And this is also a very promising route
for tackling this challenge, for improving the availability
of attosecond sources.
There's a lot of development in the driving laser
technology, like for high repetition rate, tur laser
development or development of novel, uh, way of
compressing pulses like multipass cell
that has been recently very well developed.
Another aspect that has been, uh,
let's say developed in order to, uh, try to tackle the, the,
the, the study and control of electrodynamics is also having
attosecond passes
with very complex electric field structure like, uh,
multicolor fields
or maybe fields containing orbital angular momentum.
And of course, these, uh, could lead like, use
of these attosecond passes could lead to novel experiment
and let they say dis discoveries, for instance,
like in quantum science also on technology.
- Oh, that sounds really interesting.
I mean, it sounds like there's lots,
lots more work to be done.
So, so David Devo, you, uh, reports on progress in physics.
You've got your finger on the pulse, if you'll mind the pun
of ato second science.
You're seeing papers coming in.
What sort of science are you,
are you looking at publishing at the moment in terms
of ado second science? Clearly,
- I'm, I'm no longer a, a practicing physicist,
but you know, my role as a chief editor
of reports on progressive physics gives me a quite
privileged position to be able to get a bird's eye view of,
um, pretty much all areas of physics.
Um, so I kind
of very broad understanding without certainly the depth
of professors what see and lid.
Um, but what I've always really loved about, um, attosecond
and ultra path science is really just the sheer breadth
of spatial scales over which it operates.
So for example, at at one level you've got the light sources
themselves, attosecond pulses can be generated
through a process known as high harmonic generation
and just the, um, the incredible amount of laser physics
that is required to, to, um, to get this working.
And the understanding of, you know,
the way the intense pulses of light interact
with matter is just absolutely fascinating.
Um, and it can go even larger still.
Um, you know, Catarina mentioned free electron lasers,
so free electron lasers can be used
to generate at a second pulses.
And when you are de you know, developing such a large
and complicated facility's basically, um, fascinating
and exciting physics around every single corner.
And then you go to the other end of the extreme, you know,
when you come to apply these pulses, what you look at
as Catherine around Professor Lynn said, you,
you're looking at atoms, at molecules.
Um, so you can use these ultra pass pulses
to look at the dynamics
or the motion of electrons in an atom or a molecule.
Um, for example, you can combine the ATO pulses with a,
a technique known as pump rope,
and you can essentially get molecular movies that is a, uh,
a series of snapshots that, um, basically illuminate
or, you know, shine lights on, so to speak,
the ultra pass processes such as, um, photo ionization
that previously we knew happened,
but we never could never really see them in
effectively real time.
But I'm kind of really proud that, um,
over the last few decades, reports on progress
of physics has published a lot of reviews,
are pretty much all aspects VA second and science,
and really brought our readership the latest updates
as they happened effectively.
And, um, just a, some shameless name dropping, you know, uh,
both Professor Lynn and Vsi mentioned last year's Nobel
Prize was awarded for, uh,
for the experimental development to Batan tools.
And, um, certainly both Pierre Tini
and Ferus have contributed
to our pages over the last few years.
- Well, that's great. Um, it is good to see that you're sort
of, sort of in the thick of it when it comes
to a second size.
And, and what are your plans, um,
for growing the journal's coverage of this field?
Do events like Professor Linz play an important role
in your future plans?
- Oh, absolutely. I mean,
reports on progress in physics has a very long history
of publishing in my somewhat biased view, cutting edge
and insightful review articles.
I mean, it's been around since 1934, um,
but we've only kind of just recently taken some steps to
modernize, if that's the right word, modernize the journal.
Um, for example, opening for open access submissions, which
of course is very common now
for most researchers requiring an open access option.
But I guess more importantly,
we've also opened the journal up to, um, considering primary
research articles that is articles considering, um,
brand new experimental and theoretical results.
Um, the idea here is to try
and create a journal that publishes a small number
of really impactful articles so readers can come to us
and just get a snapshot of what's going on today
and physics today.
Um, and it is really gratifying, you know, to know that
the research community in general see reports of progress
and physics as a much love resource for great reviews.
Um, but it does take time to update people
that we're changing, uh, our mission a little bit.
Um, I guess altering any sort
of venerable institution is like turning an oil tanker.
It's really very slow, and you have
to keep getting their message out there.
So conferences like this are really important for me to,
to talk directly to the research community
and tell them what we're trying to do.
And, and with a bit of luck trying to get them
behind our mission at the same time.
And of course, we're gonna really
make the journalist success.
We really have to talk to all research communities, right?
Each different group of physicists has different
requirements in what they need
for when they're publishing their paper.
Um, so hosting a conference is again, just a great place
to gather feedback to make sure that we're getting,
giving researchers what they want when they come
to publish their papers, making sure their research reaches
their peers, making sure that they're adhering
to their funders policies and, and mandates, et cetera.
But I guess finally, most,
and perhaps most importantly, conferences, um, seminars,
symposia are pretty central to the Institute of Physics.
The Institute's alerted society,
and it really aims to give back
and support the scientific community in it as many ways
as it can, not just here in the uk
in Ireland, but worldwide.
Um, so give a, this specific, this specific example
of this Attosecond Symposium registration is absolutely
free, and that's really made possible
because all of the revenue
that comes from journals like Reports
or Progressive physics, or in fact, any
of the other IOP journals is passed directly over
to the Institute of Physics,
and then they hand it back to the community
through events like this.
- Well, that's great. That's great.
David, thanks for, uh, for, for, for talking about, um, Rob
and, um, and Professor Lin
and David, um, best of luck with the symposium
and it sounds like it's going to be very exciting.
And thanks, um, professor Vai for coming on the podcast
to talk about Attosecond science
and, um, I mean, it sounds like you've got your work cut out
for you over the next little while in the field.
It sounds very exciting.
So yeah, thanks, uh, to all three of you
for, for joining me. Alright, thank you.
- Thank you. Thank you.
- You can find out more about the I-O-P-Z-J-U International
Symposium on progress in Attosecond science on the
IOP publishing website.
Now moving from Nobel winning research to a competition
that just might include future physics laureates,
physics world's, Catherine Skipper talks
to a two-time contestant in the plank's International
Theoretical Physics competition,
and he now helps run the tournament.
Here's that conversation.
- Imagine an infinitely thin stick of length, one meter
and mass one kilogram that is balanced on its end.
Classically, this is an unstable equilibrium,
and if the stick is perfectly balanced,
it will stay in place forever.
Now, you have until the end of this podcast
to calculate the maximum time it would take such a stick
to fall over and hit the ground
if it is placed in a state compatible
with the uncertainty principle, assume
that you're on the Earth service, please pick up your pens
and remember to show your working.
We've been having some fun in the Physics World Office with
that question, which is taken from an annual competition
held by the International Association of Physics students.
The competition called Planks is held every year
with students from across the world,
and it's been running since 2014.
Today I'm joined by Anthony Quinlan,
who competed in planks in 2019 and 2020,
and has since become part of the Organizing Committee
for the competition, which this year will be held
in Dublin in May.
Anthony, thank you for coming on the podcast.
- Well, thank you for having me,
and, uh, I am very grateful to be here
and to talk about planks.
- Firstly, can you explain what exactly Planks is
and how the competition works?
- So you, you, you said
that the actual planks competition is an international
theoretical physics competition.
Um, the nature of it is that it, the, it changes every year,
uh, not just the overall program, but the location.
Uh, so this year you mentioned
that it was gonna be held in Dublin.
That is correct. The international funds be held in Dublin,
and in previous years it's gone all around the world.
The main competition part of planks is a four hour, uh,
unseen exam that students do in teams
of three to four students.
Uh, however, the rest of the program, which especially
for the finals, should be sort of a balance between
cultural, social, and educational elements, is entirely down
to that place's organizing committee.
So, um, we have that coming up.
We are working with the students at Trinity College,
Dublin University College, Dublin, to host it this May.
But before that, uh, every year all the countries
that are participating usually run their own
preliminaries of the event.
We've just come from the, uh, UK
and Ireland preliminaries that took place at the University
of Surrey this February, um,
where we ran a very similar program to
what the finals would be, uh, a similar exam, uh,
that's four hours long, and the students got to compete.
And the winners of that event when are going on
to represent the UK and Ireland at the international finals,
the winners and the highest scoring Irish team will be there
at Trinity College this May.
- Um, right. So you mentioned that part
of the competition is, uh, a cultural and social program.
Can you talk a little bit more about
that and what that's like?
- Yes. So the, um, the cultural
and the social side of the program are a massive
part of the event.
Um, yes, we're all there interested in physics,
interested in learning, wanted to attend the guest lectures
that are part of the program, but we are primarily there
to have fun and to meet new people.
So that's why for, certainly for the finals
where you'll have students coming from all around the world
to a location, it's really essential that they get to see
and explore in, in, in their groups of students.
The area around them get to take in part
of, you know, being that country.
And we've got 35 countries being represented at
Dublin this May.
Um, and so we've put into that elements of the program
that will allow us to, to, for them, sorry, to explore the,
the local area and, uh, Irish culture.
What we're gonna see actually is
as we talk more about planks, uh, is
that the theme is really physics, fun
and teamwork throughout all of it.
Yeah. The exam is sat in a team.
Yeah, there is a team of organizers.
Um, there, there's very much a team spirit throughout it,
no matter what part of the, of the event, part
of the event you are, you are in.
And, uh, and so we want to not just foster, you know,
that social element amongst their own teams,
but encourage people to talk to their fellow students.
Uh, you know, everyone can sort of bond, shall we say,
over the, the, the struggles that they have
with their physics courses.
And, uh, and we, you know, that's one of the, the main ways
that we that we saw people were interacting
with their, their shared sort of, uh, loath for,
for the course that they're, that they might be studying.
But it does also, I think that that nice that, you know,
being able to talk to people was just going, oh,
it's not just my university.
It's not just me. Yeah.
Being able to have that shared, shared sentence,
that's one element the, of the social side of the program
that I think is really, really beneficial to those that,
- And so you've competed in, in planks three times,
including in the international finals.
And I'm interested in what motivated you to do that,
because it is, you've talked about the social program,
but it is a four hour exam,
and I, like, I still get,
like occasionally waking up in a cold sweat thinking about
some of my undergraduate physics exams, .
So I, I am interested in what would, what would motivate you
as a, as a student, as an undergraduate to sign up
for an additional exam?
- ? Yeah. I, well, I,
I do think about this often actually.
Uh, when I was, I was,
I was looking back on my emails the other day going back to,
uh, 2018, uh, to try
and see what actually was the thing that made me go, oh,
sure, I wanna, I, yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll do this,
I'll try and rope my friends into doing it.
And it was just an email from the Institute of Physics, uh,
an email that, uh, Dr. James Nella had, uh, sent out, um,
who's one of the, my fellow members
of the Planks advisory board,
and really who we have to thank
for their being planks in the UK and Ireland.
Um, and, uh, I, I just read it
and I went, oh, it's a four hour exam,
but it's also a free weekend in London, uh, with
my three best mates.
Uh, and so I, I wrote them into it.
I said, my roping in was, so we might see some lectures,
uh, which will we call, we have to do the exam,
but we're not really gonna worry about that as long
as we don't come last.
And, uh, we're gonna meet people from all over,
all over the uk, UK and Ireland.
Uh, and that was sort of the motivation
for us was wasn't the academic side at all,
- , but you did, you did end up doing doing well.
And so I'm Sid to know what your,
your personal highlight from having
can competed in the competition is,
- Uh, my personal highlight.
It, it, it was not winning.
Um, it was the,
I was thinking about this the other day as well.
It was spending the time
with my three best friends from university
because if the, the, just the whole experience,
the whole lead up to it is that when we, we,
we signed up in the December and then it got to February
and suddenly we're like, oh yeah,
we're doing this this weekend.
I can, I have a distinct memory of us.
We're walking down to the train station just going under the
underpass, and one of my friends grabbed me
by the shoulder saying, we're gonna win, we're gonna win.
And me going, we're not gonna win.
As long as we don't come last we'll be fine.
We'll be like, as long as we don't come last.
Uh, and then the, we, we got into the competition.
We, we were having the lectures
and, uh, the people that I met, some of them I know, uh,
to this day, some of them are involved
with helping out in planks.
One of the first people that I met when I got
to the IOP building, uh, Alexia has,
she has just helped run Plank Sury 2024,
and then I first met her in 2019.
Yeah, it's sort of the, this, this crazy thing that I,
looking back on it, all these really amazing people
that I met and my team that I was part of, uh, you know,
we're still friends today.
So for me, going into the organizing side of things,
it's always been about the fun and physics is fun,
but you can, you know, there is only
so much physics you can do in, you know,
over an entire weekend.
So the culture on the social side of the programs are very,
very important as well.
Uh, and uh, that's I think
what really sticks in my memory throughout it, um, just
to say the exam and if anyone's listening, who, uh, who
who is, um, interested in taking the exam, uh,
or you or has taken the exam.
You hear me say this before during the exam briefing,
but we didn't take it seriously.
The questions are there to be fun,
creative questions is not like a normal exam.
Hey, we were throwing paper airplanes around
and doing like press-ups during, during the competition.
It, it's, you know, don't take it too seriously.
I think those that come into the competition wanting to win,
wanting to, to achieve, well, yes, that is good,
but it's not the main purpose of, of the event.
And I think you, um, you miss out on some bits
of the program if you are, if you have that mindset.
- Right. And it does seem like the question sisters have
quite a lot of fun, uh, with the questions
as having a look at some of the past papers.
So, um, I was wondering if you have, uh, a favorite question
from past exams that you'd like to share?
- Yeah. This, this is, this is a hard question, ,
this is a hard question for you to ask me, uh,
because there are so many brilliant questions.
Like the question you asked at the start about the,
the quantum stick.
Um, I had a great time testing that question.
I actually wrote the solutions to it,
um, for the exam paper.
But it was said to me by, uh, Dr.
Sam Carr, who's has written quite a lot of questions
for planks over the years, and, um,
and i, I did it on a train journey into work,
and I thought, oh, this is a great question.
Um, we've had some other really amazing questions.
A question from the Edinburgh exam was, what would the color
of the sun be if our world was two dimensional?
Assume that the service temperature
of the sun would not change.
Yeah, that one, I thought that one,
I was gonna say at the time I didn't get it at all,
but looking back on it, I was like,
that's a really great question.
That's like really fun.
We had a great one from the London International Finals
where, um, do James Nella had found a set of questions
from the University of Sydney's first year physics paper
from 1888.
And, uh, you know, students over a hundred years
later were having to,
to solve the, the problems that they did.
I thought that was a really fun one.
Uh, another one that, this is one that I wrote
and it has a bit of a backstory to it.
Uh, I was out for a walk with a friend
and they were telling me about this video they'd been
watching where, uh, on YouTube
where the person had described
how you could move the solar system
and, uh, to save civilization.
And I was thinking, that is nonsense, absolutely ridiculous.
Like thinking about all the practical sides of things, how,
how insane or ridiculous it was.
And I got, got back to my, to my room
and I watched the video I watched
and went, oh, I could write a question out of this.
This could actually be quite fun. So I'll just, uh,
read you briefly what the question is.
And some of you, um, might want to, um, to try this.
It is actually online, uh,
on the plank's website, if any of you want to.
Um, you're a group
of scientists on a space station called Cheesecake,
which orbits a star named Blueberry.
You have made a shocking discovery
that in a hundred million years, a foreign star will collide
with your own and destroy your civilization, you know
that there is a safe zone five light years away
and decide the best course of action is
to move the entire star rather
than just leaving the station.
The government agrees to let you build the device, uh,
which will allow you to move the star,
but they want the costs
and the impact on the civilization's daily lives
to be as low as possible.
It says your team christens the device,
the big shiny moving star in nata, uh,
which on earth we might call a, um,
thruster if you want to look that up.
And then it, the, it asks you, uh, a couple
of questions about this of, uh,
what size would the big shiny moving star in ATA need
to be in order to meet the government's criteria?
And you, you know, someone reads 'em, they think, oh my God,
that's, how am I even gonna start to approach that?
When you break it down to its, to its components, it's,
it's a geometry question.
And then just basic mechanics,
it's almost a sac question when you think
about it in the end of the day.
So that's what I really tho those sort of questions
that make, uh, students think, make the markers think
as well, um, are the ones that I really love.
Uh, each year we get them as well.
And, um, marks are always awarded for creativity.
As someone that's written the questions,
I don't always think of all the answers.
I know people don't always think of all the answers.
A question that I wrote for Sury.
Um, a lot of the teams did my method,
but some of them came up with an even better method
for solving the problem than mine.
And all I could do was award them, you know, four marks
and marks are awarded for good physics, logic
assumptions, always marks are awarded for a sketch.
We've had some beautiful sketches over the years, uh, and,
and just good physics basically.
It doesn't necessarily need to be the answer
that is in on our mark schemes.
Yeah, we will follow your method through to the end,
which can be an interesting thing, ,
but yeah, on a Saturday at 11 o'clock at night. Yeah.
- Right. So the, the preliminaries for the UK
and Ireland for this year have already happened,
but if, um, if there are any listeners
who think this sounds like something that they would like
to do, um, can you explain how they,
how they can get involved in the competition next year?
- Yeah, absolutely. Uh, so it's not just students
who can be involved, it can be people from business.
If you want to do a, you know, a talk,
it could be academics, it could be people
that might wanna write the questions.
Um, but the, the students, uh, if you're part
of the IOP student community,
you'll get a newsletter each year.
So usually about October is when the next planks is starting
being a advertised the UK Island Preliminaries.
Um, and so you can sign up through there.
It will be on our social media accounts, uh, the website,
and we have links with almost all the societies
around the UK and island.
They do an amazing job
and the university departments of advertising planks each,
each year it is out there.
Please come and join us.
And one thing I say is, please don't worry
if you can't find a team of three or four to compete.
We've introduced a couple of years ago composite team.
So say it's something that you want to do or you
and just a friend want to do,
but you don't have enough members to make up a team, um,
please sign up anyway.
We will put you in a team
and it, it, it amazes me every year that we've done this is
how well these composite teams do sometimes with none
of them knowing anyone, a team
of four p complete strangers managed
to get up in the top tens.
Absolutely fantastic. Um, so that, that's also something
that's available for, for people.
- Right. Thank you for coming on the podcast.
Um, that was Anthony Quin, that one of the organizers
of the International Association
of Physics Students Finance Competition, the final
of which will be held in Dublin this May.
And that's all we have time for.
Please put down your pens and remain silent.
I'm sure all the papers have been collected.
- Thanks to Anthony Quinlan, Catherine Skipper ing Lin,
Katina vsi and David Chavet for joining me today.
And a special thanks to our producer, Callum Gel.
We'll be back again next week when I'm in conversation
with Lily Ellis Gibbons.
She's a higher scientist at the UK's
National Physical Laboratory,
and she talks about her passion
for building scientific instruments, for fields as diverse
as radiotherapy at Astro Chemistry,
- Physics world.