SwissPhO - Swiss Physics Olympiad

The preliminary round of the SwissPho 2013 took place on Wednesday, 16 January 2013. A record number of 103 students from all across Switzerland and Liechtenstein took part in the competition, which was held simultaneously in three different places: Zurich, Lausanne and Lugano.

Congratulations to the following 26 Swiss participants and the two students from Liechtenstein who qualified for the SwissPho 2013. (The ranking has no significance for the SwissPho.)

Switzerland

1. Komagata Kenichi
2. Borgeaud William
3. Rossier Alain
4. Kehl Viviane
5. Winkler Rafael
6. Wenger Quentin
7. Burgener Cyrill
8. Keller Fabian
9. Pfeiffer Sven
10. Leyvraz Frederik
11. Huguenin-Dumittan Kevin
12. Suter-Dörig Benjamin Andris
13. Stas Pieter
14. Schroeder Florian
15. Maret Arnaud
16. Kreis Carla
17. Roos Barbara
18. Stengele Sebastian
19. Weber Stefan
20. Blöchlinger Pascal
21. Haag Jürg
22. Quan Guanzhong
23. Novotny Timothy
24. Guyer Gian
25. Schertenleib Eric
26. Walter Moritz

Liechtenstein

1. Lang Lukas
2. Hälg David

Best of luck to all the successful participants at the SwissPho 2013, which will be take place on 23/24 March at Neue Kantonsschule Aarau. The top five participants will then get the chance to represent Switzerland in July at the International Physics Olympiad in Copenhagen, Denmark.

We thank everyone who was not lucky enough to make it into the second round for participating. We hope that many of you will try again next year.

The complete ranking including the scores is available here.

Zurich (ETH)

Lausanne (EPFL)

© Images: Thomas Uehlinger, Thanh Phong Lê

Estonia hosted the 43rd International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) which took place in two locations: The exams were written in the University town Tartu where the participants were also accommodated. The team leaders on the other hand stayed in the capital Tallinn.

The five-hour long theoretical exam covered topics from various areas of physics. One problem addressed the different stages during the formation of a star, considering different thermodynamical properties. Other questions asked about the working principle of the Kelvin generator or were related to the formation of water droplets on the wing of an aircraft.

The participants also had to face an experimental exam. During the first experiment, they measured the permeability of water by submersing a magnet in it. The change of the water surface was observed using a laser. The second, and arguably harder, experiment was concerned with the properties of a black box which contained an unknown, non-linear electrical circuit.

The following five candidates represented Switzerland (left to right):

• Dominic Schwarz,
  from Teufen (Kantonsschule Trogen, AR)
• Sebastian Käser,
  from Gurzelen (Gymn. Thun Schadau, BE)
• Christoph Schildknecht,
  from Meggen (Kantonsschule Musegg, LU)
  
• Laura Gremion,
  from La Tour-de-Trême (Collège du Sud, FR)
• Thanh Phong Lê,
  from Crissier (Gymnase du Bugnon, site de Sévelin, VD) [not in the photo as he had already travelled to the International Chemistry Olympiad in the US]

Laura Gremion and Dominic Schwarz were both awarded with an honourable mention, Sebastian Käser and Thanh Phong Lê took a bronze medal zurück, and Christoph Schildknecht won both a silver medal and the special prize for best solution of an experimental problem!

Congratulations to the team for the extraordinary performance!

The time for which we have been preparing all year has almost arrived:

The 43rd International Physics Olympiad is going to take place in Estonia from 15 to 24 July.

The five students participating for Switzerland can look forward to an exciting 10 days during which they will compete with other participants from all over the world. Despite currently having to sit their Matura examinations, the participants are nevertheless ready to spend some of their spare time learning even more physics - well beyond Matura level.
For all this hard work, the students are rewarded with a thrilling cultural and social programme subsequent to the IPhO examinations. They will have the chance to travel around Estonia together with all the other participants and accompanied by local guides. This is a unique opportunity to experience a country, to mingle and to make new friends who are equally passionate about physics.

Best of luck to all the candidates and we hope that they will thoroughly enjoy the event!