A team of students from the UW Faculty of Physics took 1st place in the International Physicists’ Tournament. The competition was held from 23rd to 29th April in Palaiseau, France.
Preparations for the competition take several months. “The participants solve tasks on physics of everyday phenomena that have not yet been sufficiently explained. The tasks are announced more than six months in advance. Then, the competitors present their solutions to an international jury,” says Professor Krzysztof Turzyński, the winning team’s mentor and the Vice Dean for Student Affairs at the Faculty of Physics, the University of Warsaw.
Soft skills and knowledge tournament
The Faculty of Physics’ team included Debora Choińska, Kamil Dutkiewicz, Tomasz Mazur, Stanisław Rakowski, Jakub Trzaska and Michał Zdziennicki. They were supported by Jakub Grabarczyk, Jakub Hevler, Jakub Kośmicki, Piotr Łukawski and Michał Puza.
In the final of the competition, Jakub Trzaska discussed the dynamics of honey held on a rotating spoon. Michał Zdziennicki explained the characteristic sound made by ice on a frozen lake when a stone is thrown at it. Stanisław Rakowski moderated a discussion on levitating magnets.
All three presentations were highly rated by the international jury. The team from the University of Warsaw took first place in the final classification, ex aequo with the team from École Normale Superieure de Lyon.
The IPT (International Physicists’ Tournament) is a team competition which brings together physics students from all over the world. Its 15th edition was held this year. 18 teams from 16 countries: France, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, France, Germany, Denmark, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, the USA, Croatia, Sweden, Greece and Romania, as well as one team under a neutral flag participated in the tournament.
