The Hungarian Association of Physics Students is happy to announce, the 40th and for the 11th time international

Rudolf Ortvay International Problem Solving Competition in Physics

http://ortvay.mafihe.hu

Date: 22nd October – 2nd November, 2009

The competition is electronic, so you are likely to join from any country on the world if you are a university or PhD student in any field.
The goal is to solve as many from the 30-40 problems given as you can, but maximum 10. Tthese can be downloaded from the web page above in several formats from 11 am (GMT), the 22nd of October, and send your solutions back via email or fax till the deadline, that is 2nd November 2009.
You have to solve the problems by yourself (no group works are accepted) but you are welcome to use any tools you wish (including computers).
The assigned problems do not focus on school-level problem-solving routine but rather on the skills of physical way of thinking, recognition of the heart of the problem, and the appropriate choice in the mathematical armory.
The competitors are selected into categories by their years of study (PhD students also form an separate category), so dear Undergraduates, don’t be afraid to join!

The first three places in each category are rewarded by a certain amount of money and an official certificate signed by the president of the jury, a well known university professor in Hungary, and the president of the Hungarian Association of Physics Students.
Above this, the jury also rewards the best solutions to certain problems, and there are also some special prices given, so if you only have one or two problems solved, its still wise to send them.
During the past years prizes won in the Ortvay Contest became an ever more important factor in choosing the best candidates for thesis topics as well as PhD and student exchange scholarships.

Among the one-time contestants and winners of the Ortvay Contest there are several internationally acknowledged researchers.
If this made you curious, take a look at the problems, and you are welcome to participate!

All the best with Your work!

An unique IAPS visit to CERN will take place this winter! During two days you will have an opportunity to attend lectures held by CERN specialist, you will learn how to apply to CERN for an internship and of course visit some of the facilities.

Number of participants: 47

Price: 72 euros (so low thank to the sponsorship from EPS)

The participation fee covers accomodation, dinner on the first day, breakfasts, transportation during the whole stay and a souvenir T-shirt. Lunches are not included.

Price of a meal in CERN: 10-15 CHF

THERE ARE NO MORE FREE PLACES AT THE MOMENT, but you can sign up for the waiting list!

You can find the registration form here: http://dhost.info/iaps2cern/

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact Agnieszka Leyko (trips at iaps.info).

Activities in CERN

1. visiting experiment facilities

2. exhibition (Microcosm or in Globe)

3. some lectures/presentations (8 hours)

- recruitment possibilities (1h)
- general presentation about CERN (1h)

Lectures on physics (still to be discussed)

- “Antimatter in the Lab” (2h)

- “Physics at Hadronic Colliders” (4h)

- “From Heavy Ion Collisions to Quark Matter” (3h)

- “From Raw Data to Physics Results” (2h)

- “Superconducting Magnets” (1h)
- Some introduction to ATLAS experiment

Other activities

- nightlife in Geneva
- sightseeing

Accommodation in Geneva
http://www.genevahostel.ch/en/index.html

The organisers of SNEF, the Peruvian national conference of physics students, have kindly offered IAPS a few free places for members who wish to present their work and take part in a physics students’ conference in South America. The conference will involve about 300 students with both guest and student lectures, posters, social activities and a tour of the local area.

Lectures and posters can be presented in either English or Spanish. Translators will be available.

Please see the SNEF website for more information.

Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis, after which we’ll keep a waiting list in case anyone drops out. You will need to pay your own transport costs.

Places are very limited, so if you are interested in attending please sign up as soon as possible. When planning your travel, bear in mind that SNEF takes place the week after ICPS.

If you wish to attend, please email ec (at) iaps . info

The city of Cracow (Polish Krakow) lies in the southern part of Poland and
it is one of the most beautiful cities in Eastern Europe. We have the great
honour of inviting you to this old and mysterious city for the XXIII International
Conference of Physics Students.

Delegates to ICPS will have opportunity to visit some interesting places in
the city as well as beyond Cracow. There will be a few guest lectures covering
a variety of physics topics. We have also prepared the traditional social programme
including the National party, where each nation represented at the conference
presents some national food and drink and performs a little show (song,
dance, comedy etc.). Participation is not mandatory, but if you participate,
please prepare for it. It is usually enjoyed by all.

Delegates are encouraged to present their work. Lectures and posters are
welcome on all areas of physics and physics-related topics. This is a good
opportunity to gain experience before a friendly audience.

The conference fee will be about 150 Euros and it will include access to
everything on the conference programme, all meals and accommodation. For
more info look on our website: www.icps.agh.edu.pl.

The IAPS/MAFIHE summer school on nanophysics took place in Gyenesdiás from 7th-14th July.  30 students attended.

Lectures were given in English by well known Hungarian scientists, coming from the universities in Hungary and the Central Research Institute of Physics. Participants had the opportunity to visit the city and Festetics mansion of Keszthely, go hiking in the mountains around, relax on the beach and visit the world famous thermal lake Héviz.

Photographs are available here, it seems a good time was had by all.

The webpage and poster for the summer school contain more information.

IAPS’ LC Kyiv, the Association of Physics Students of Kyiv National University (APSKNU), invited IAPS members to register for the VIII International Young Scientists’ Conference on Applied Physics. The conference has been held annually in June since the year 2000 and is aimed at physics students and young scientists.

The conference was held from 11th-13th June.

APSKNU includes the Young Scientists’ Association of RadioPhysics as well as students from the local Physics Department.

The website for the conference was here.

IAPS members are invited to apply for a places at ISC54. ISC is held annually in Japan, with 30 Japanese and 30 foreign delegates. Delegates are chosen based on an essay (in English) submitted to the organisers.

This year’s conference is in two parts, starting with a study tour of Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Okayama and Kyusyu, followed by the main conference in Tokyo. The programme includes discussion sessions on a variety of topics, as well as athletic and cultural events.

For more information, please see the ISC website and leaflet. The organising committee can be contacted on isc54committee (at) gmail . com, or contact the public relations officer, Saori Okawa, on saori-12 (at) hotmail . co . jp

The IAPS trip to ESTEC was based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The main attraction of this trip was a tour of ESTEC, the European Space Research and Technology Centre , located in Noordwijk. Participants saw a range of facilities and viewed the Herschel and GOCE spacecraft, both due to launch later in 2008. The event also included a visit to the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) in Delft, the Windmill Museum and Planetarium.

Members can download a TNO general introduction, careers presentation, optics lecture and space science lecture (focusing on dust storms on Mars), a copy of the report for EPS, who sponsored the trip, and the IAPS presentation given by Agnieszka Leyko in either odp or ppt format.

Pictures from the whole trip, and a few from the following Queen’s Day celebrations, can be seen here. In addition, pictures taken by TNO staff are here. Trip particpants can view and contribute to the gallery on Li’s website.

ICPS 2009 will be held in Split, Croatia from 10th to 18th of August 2009. More information will be available on the ICPS 2009 website later.

The XXII International Conference of Physics Students was held in London, UK, based at University College London. Highlights included five guest lectures, 69 student lectures, many student posters and a choice of 9 scientific excursions. The social and cultural programme included the usual city tour, national and costume parties, plus a drinks reception, céilidh, karaoke night, barbecue, lark in the park and more. 360 students from over 30 countries attended.

The handbook can be downloaded here, and members can log in to view the reports here and here.

Job van der Zwan and Marten Veldthuis have a gallery of photos, and there is a facebook group and flickr group.

A highlights video is available (70MB .mov) (323MB .avi)

The official site was http://www.icps2007.info