Congratulations to team IXI and the PhotonLab! The team, coached by our student laboratory, secured second place at the 13th German Young Physicists’ Tournament (GYPT). A 40-member jury selected the three team members from a field of 84 participants, recognizing them among the top twelve students in the competition. One of the team members, Nikita Petrov, also received the Otmar Winkler Prize for the best discussion, awarded for the first time this year. The three students from the Dachau region now have the chance to be selected for the five-member national team and to represent Germany at the International Young Physicists’ Tournament (IYPT) or the European AYPT.
GYPT centres on independent research and debate. Over several weeks or months, teams work on a physics problem, present their results in short talks in English, and engage directly with opposing teams. “The competition is highly interactive. Up to 40 per cent of participants are female, and the discussions are often very in-depth,” says Silke Stähler-Schöpf, head of the PhotonLab at MPQ.
Within team IXI, each member tackled a different problem. Nikita Petrov worked on “Electrical Damping”, studying a magnet suspended on a spring oscillating through a coil. Alongside mechanical damping, complex electromagnetic effects play a role. He impressed in both presentation and discussion, earning the Otmar Winkler Prize.
Ayush Yadav explored “The Singing Ruler”, analysing the sound of a ruler set into vibration by a flick. Mihailo Mascecic built a monochromator using a sugar solution and two polarising filters. Alongside Petrov and Yadav, Philipp Klippel has also progressed. He presented a modified Newton’s cradle in which the spheres are magnets that repel each other.
Preparation at PhotonLab played a key role in the team’s success. “This year went particularly well,” says Stähler-Schöpf. “Our student assistants prepared the team thoroughly, the students invested a great deal of time, and our jury selected the right candidates at the regional round.”
Jonas Hamp, a student assistant at the PhotonLab, has been mentoring teams since 2022. “As a former participant and now a mentor, I have been fascinated by the competition for nine years,” he says.
“We are proud that one of our teams has won a silver medal – and we very much hope that some of them will go on to compete at the IYPT,” Stähler-Schöpf adds.
Our silver medallists Nikita Petrov, Ayush Yadav and Mihailo Macesic with the President-elect of the DPG, Heike Riel.
Photos: GYPT | Felix Wechsler
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