PORTUGAL

Photoelectric effect, as such, is something the general public doesn´t have a feeling about.
However, a photovoltaic cell is something that everibody has heard about and He/she (thinks) knows what it is.
The point is that people generally do not link the two things: an apparently obscure
scientific discovery and a major technological advancement with a lot of
impact in our lives.

And in fact Eistein got the Nobel Prize in 1921 mainly on account of the
photoelectric effect:
"The prize was reserved and awarded in 1922 "for his services to
Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the
photoelectric effect"

This is also a good example to show to the public (and to the
politicians!) how science works: an apparently small advancement today may
lead to a major technological outcome years later.

So, I believe this could be a simple and nice focus for activities during
2005 - photovoltaic cells are cheap and easy to assemble, others are
present in many current equipments.

What do you think?

Best regards
Ana Noronha
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Ana Noronha
Ciência Viva- Agência Nacional para a Cultura Científica e Tecnológica
Pavilhão do Conhecimento
Alameda dos Oceanos, Lote 2.10.01
1990-223 Lisboa
Portugal
Tel: +351 21 898 50 20
Fax: +351 21 898 50 55

www.cienciaviva.pt

Convocatòries enviades per Jan, coordinador a Suècia
13-15 Jan, Launch conference in Paris. Young students from each country are being invited by UNESCO to this expected 1,000+ delegates conference.
18-19 April, "Physics Enlightens the World", light relay around the globe, starting in Princeton. See www.wyp2005.at for more info.

International poster competition for 10-16 years old. invitation not yet published at www.scienceacross.org

The Pirelli Award for best multimedia presentation in no more than 5 mins of Einstein's special theory of relativity (www.pirelliaward.com)

1. Reduced Gravity Competition
>
> High School Teachers! Now's your chance to fly aboard NASA's reduced
> gravity aircraft to conduct your class's project. Your class will be
> required to create an experiment to run on the reduced gravity
> aircraft. Teams of teachers will then conduct the experiment in
> free-fall. The deadline for applications is December 3, 2004. Complete
> details and instructions are available online at:
> http://www.physics2005.org/events/reducedgravity/index.html
>
> 2. Physics on the Road grants available
>
> The World Year of Physics 2005 team is happy to announce that it will
> award sixteen $10,000 grants to existing or start-up Physics on the
> Road programs in the United States. Both existing programs and
> start-up programs are encouraged to apply. Proposals are due by
> December 3, 2004. Complete instructions and details available online
> at: http://www.physics2005.org/events/physicsontheroad/index.html
>
> 3. PhysicsQuest sign-up
>
> Middle school classes from around the country will soon join the
> search for Einstein's Missing Treasure. Register your middle school
> class to participate in this free project. Remember, only the first
> 10,000 classrooms to sign up will be able to participate. The project
> is limited to U.S. classrooms and home schoolers. To find out more
> about Einstein's Missing Treasure and to sign up, visit our website
> at: http://www.physics2005.org/events/physicsquest/index.html
>
> 4. Rocket Contest
>
> The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and the National
> Association of Rocketry (NAR), in partnership with NASA and the
> American Association of Physics Teachers, are proudly sponsoring the
> Team America Rocketry Challenge, a national model rocket competition
> for U.S. high school and middle school students. A grand prize pool of
> over $60,000 in cash and savings bonds will be shared by the top ten
> teams. This year's contest celebrates the World Year of Physics!
> Details available online at: http://www.rocketcontest.org
>
> 5. Join the Physics Talent Search
>
> Are you the next Einstein? You never know without trying! To start,
> why not participate in the WYP 2005 Physics Talent Search? You can
> earn Talent Search points by visiting a physics lab, making a poster,
> writing a play, or doing a physics experiment in your school's science
> fair. If you earn 10 points, you earn the right to be called a "United
> States Physics Talent." For more points, who knows? You might become
> one of the United States "Physics Young Ambassadors." Register to
> participate or volunteer to be an evaluator at:
> http://www.physics2005.org/events/talentsearch/index.html
>
> 6. Recreate a Momentous Experiment
>
> More than 2000 years ago, the Greek scientist Eratosthenes first
> measured the circumference of the Earth with an ingenious technique
> requiring only sticks, shadows and a little mathematics. In Spring
> 2005 students at separate high schools can collaborate with each other
> to recreate this experiment on the largest scale ever attempted. If
> you're a high school teacher, find out more about the experiment and
> register your class at: http://www.physics2005.org/events/eratosthenes/index.html
>
> 7. 2005 Event Finder now online!
>
> The WYP2005 Online Event Finder is now available. We want to hear
> about YOUR World Year of Physics event in the United States. Add your
> open house, public lecture, lab tour, or physics demonstrations to our
> online event finder so others in your area (and around the country)
> can find out about your events.
>
> Click here to submit your events:
> http://www.physics2005.org/events/submit.html
>
> 8. AAPT offers WYP grants
>
> Do you want to celebrate WYP? Do you need financial support to make it
> happen? The American Association of Physics Teachers has two funding
> opportunities available.
>
> The AAPT's Bauder Fund will offer a minimum of 20 grants of up to
> $1,000 each for WYP outreach activities. Deadline is December 31,
> 2004. More information available online at:
> http://www.aapt.org/Grants/bauderfund.cfm
>
> The AAPT's Innovative High School Physics Teacher Grant Program offers
> grants of $100-$500 to high school teachers with innovative ways of
> sharing information about physics and WYP with the school, the
> community and the surrounding areas. Total funding for the program is
> $1,000. The number of grants awarded will be determined by the dollar
> amount of each grant.
>
> More information available online at: http://www.aapt.org/Grants/innovative.cfm

In the UK World Year of Physics becomes Einstein Year (www.einsteinyear.org) with lots of activity co-ordinated by the Institute of Physics. We are working with them for our National Science Week to run the poetry competition (UNIverse) and also for Einstein's birthday on 14 March.
Will think about possible collaborations - we can talk more in London next month.

POLONIA
Dear Sir,
Professor Kubicz have asked me to send you some information concerning celebration of World Year of Physics in Poland.
In our country the organisation of these events is coordinated by Polish Physical Society and it branches. Although Information about the events are available on PPS web-pages,but only in Polish ( http://ptf.fuw.edu.pl/ ). This inforamtion is tentatively rather and restricted mainly to central events, as most of activities (like in our region - Lower Silesia) is in the phase of planning now.
Although I am involved in such planning in our region, I think that much more information you can gather from prof. Magdalena Fikus from Warsaw, who is the member of organizing committee of WYP-2005 in PPS. (magdaf@ibbrain.ibb.waw.pl) With my regards Dr. Andrzej J. Zaleski Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research Polish Academy of Sciences 2, Okolna St., 50-422 Wroclaw, Poland
URL: http://www.int.pan.wroc.pl/personal
tel: (48-71) 3435021 ext.219, 319
fax: (48-71) 3441029

AUSTRIA
Yes, in Austria we have a special website for this: http://www.wyp2005.at/. At the "ScienceWeek @ Austria 2005" we will have special tents at each of the cities with universities, in which PHYSICS will be represented - plus we are just now designing the "Funny Science Circus", which will deal a lot with physics for kids (age 8 to 12).
Yes, I would like to exchange some activities. We have a lot of interested physics experts and teachers.