25.06.2004
Stuttgart gets Physical!
Visitors were positively “wowed” by dazzling, funny or exciting experi-ments and the general consensus was one of complete surprise and awe that physics can be so exciting! Despite the thrilling football highlights that took place in Portugal at the same time, the experiment tents in Stuttgart were full of their own highlights.
The Physics Highlights, admission to which was completely free of charge, is organised in a different German town by the Deutsche Physikalische Ge-sellschaft (DPG; German Physical Society) on an annual basis with the aim of bringing physics and natural sciences closer to the general public. “The original aim of the event was to attract potential students to study physics at university. We noticed that in the year 2000, we had a very low amount of PhD physicist” explains Professor Ludwig Schultz, responsible for press and public relations within the DPG. “That is when we started planning events that would interest teenagers and potential students to the subject”. Each year, the event attracts an international public and the interest in other countries to hold such an event is increasing. These events, which are already partly being mirrored in other countries, include A Long Night of Science (where universities and research institutes admit the public during the evening and night hours to participate in experiments and lectures), Physics in the Supermarket, which has proved to be a real hit with shoppers and shop staff alike, the Year of Physics (in 2000) and the Einstein Year (to be held in commemoration of Einstein’s important contributions to modern physics in 2005, such as the Theory of Relativity) – all illustrate the interest in natural sciences here in the region.
Children in soap bubbles, young children on a trip to Mars and adults that can finally explain why the nuts in cereal always float to the top! It is no wonder that other countries wish to emanate the event and join the common goal of bringing physics to the public at large. Such events have taken place in Italy and Poland to date and are planned in France and The Netherlands for the coming year, and provide a common platform for scientists who are open to exchange impulses, criticism and creative ideas. “We gathered numerous ideas at the Festival della Scienza (Festival of Science), however, the event in Genoa focused mainly on basic physics experiments.
The event in Stuttgart has included many current topics of research“, comments Professor Schultz. This cannot be avoided in a location such as Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, where the State - through the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts - together with the industry devotes as much as 4% of its gross domestic product to research, in comparison to 3.1% in Japan and 2.8% in the USA and maintains the fundamental belief that research, whether basic or applied, is the key to future developments in society and in the economy.
“Our experience shows that we can reach a high amount of people with such events,” says Professor Schultz, “And reach our goal of attracting new students to physics. I can imagine that a lot of other countries would like to follow the example set in a few European countries so far. We can certainly all learn from each other to improve the event every year because the response here is amazing and shows that physics really is ’in’.” The event, which included a competition amongst schoolchildren, resulted in 1,500 children competing to develop objects such as the best dive boats or water rockets. The turnout in the exhibition tents, for the opening show and during the lectures totalled over 20,000 people and various open air exhibitions attracted several thousands of people. Moreover, as in the events preceding the one in Stuttgart, the whole atmosphere became “charged”, just like a real festival held in summer in the centre of Stuttgart. The trend of bringing natural science to people in countries round the world is certainly one to look out for.
