The physics competition is an annual event that started in the Netherlands in 2014 and takes place in a different country each year. According to physicists, winning is a tremendous honor, and participation is only possible after strong performances in the preliminary rounds. None of the participants this year are TU/e students. Three Dutch teams are taking part, made up of students from four other universities. The 250 participants come from 40 countries, including Morocco, Singapore, and the USA.

The event is organized by 16 students, mainly from TU/e and Radboud University. The problems were created by lecturers from those universities and will be solved on Saturday in lecture halls at the Auditorium.

Shoarma and photonics

Around the competition, a varied social program has been organized. Boaz van Langen explains what participants can expect from student life in Eindhoven. “On the day of arrival, we organize a city tour. It’s quite an extensive trip in which we show student hotspots around Eindhoven. We’ll visit 18 Septemberplein, walk through Strijp-S, and stop by a special shoarma place in Fellenoord.”

Friday is dedicated to a visit to PhotonDelta in Enschede, a foundation that also has a presence at the High Tech Campus. “A visit to the HTC wasn’t possible that day, but fortunately we still had enough budget for buses to travel to Enschede instead.”

Flexibility

The organizers had to come up with creative solutions several times. “We had arranged accommodation about twenty minutes from campus, but in November we were informed that this was no longer possible. Fortunately, we can now set up beds in the Student Sports Center on campus. That eliminates the need for bus rides and creates financial room to travel to Enschede on Friday.”

On the TU/e campus, participants will attend guest lectures by TU/e professors Jaime Gómez Rivas and Martin Lee, and enjoy drinks on the rooftop terrace of Flux at the bar of the physics study association Van der Waals.

Van Langen believes the program offers a great experience. “On Sunday there will be an award ceremony, and on the departure day participants can choose whether they want to visit the Efteling.” None of the sixteen organizing physics students ever participated in PLANCKS themselves. “The level is extremely high, and it’s a huge honor to win. We award medals, and the winning team receives a cash prize of 600 euros. Above all, it’s exciting to tackle new and interesting problems together as a team.”

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.