Annual Report 2009

The highlight of 2009 was the annual meeting organized on Sept. 2-4, in Innsbruck jointly with the Austrian Physical Society (ÖPG) and our colleagues of the Austrian and Swiss Societies for Astronomy and Astrophysics (ÖGAA and SGAA). With more than 600 participants, outstanding plenary speakers and well attended sessions it was a great success. At the award ceremony many prizes were attributed to the young laureates: three at the Swiss level (ABB, IBM and OC Oerlikon) and six main awards at the Austrian level (cf. SPG Mitteilungen 29, Nov. 2009). Based on this excellent experience further joined meetings might be planned in the future.

At the General Assembly which took place also in Innsbruck, the new sections "Atomic Physics and Quantum Optics" and "Education and Promotion of Physics" were approved and new committee members elected, in particular Prof. Ueli Straumann (Uni ZH) as vice-president.

In a constant effort to improve our links to the young generation and to physics students the SPS has become an official sponsor of the Swiss Physics Olympiads and provides now every year two SPS Prizes (2 x 500.- CHF) for the best finalists of the Swiss selection. The SPS continues also to support financially the Swiss team of the International Young Physicists Tournament (IYPT). Among other projects started in 2009 is the creation of a Young Physicists Forum to attract younger members, and the joint membership agreement with the Physikalische Gesellschaft Zürich (PGZ). Contacts were also established with the Société Valaisanne de Physique. The SPS took an active part in the evaluation of the Implementation of Bologna Process into Physics Study in Europe, organized by the European Physical Society (EPS) and lead by the International Centre for Higher Education Research (INCHER) at the University of Kassel. An online questionnaire on the Physics Curriculae at the Bachelor level was submitted to universities and the responses analysed and summarized in an EPS position paper (cf. www.eps.org ).
Another ongoing activity of the SPS is its collaboration with the Energy Working Group of the EPS in its task to organize workshops and promote information exchange on energy issues.

In the framework of the multiannual planning 2012-2016 of the SCNAT, the SPS, a member of the platform MAP, has submitted its letter of intent for this periode. Several points of actions were identified such as membership increase, visibility, collaborations, sponsoring, physics at school. In this latter case the aim is to develop interactions with physics teachers and students at the secondary level, by planning experiments in physics which can be done in the classroom and/or collectively in a national network.

Stronger contacts have also been established with SATW, in particular thanks to the commitment of our Secretary B. Braunecker, elected member of the SATW in 2009. The SPS is interested in contributing to a better integration process between schools, universities and industry. In this respect the SPS has submitted to SATW the project of C. Ferrari, teaching physics at the Liceo di Locarno with focus on physics of the 20th century. The outcome of his work will help promoting new projects of this kind at the secondary level in Switzerland. The SPS is happy to sponsor this project thanks to the financial support of SATW.

 

Christophe Rossel, SPS President