Speaker
Description
Seven high-value physics problems, four hours, teams of up to four students: this was PLANCKS Austria 2026. Organized by PAULI in cooperation with ÖPG Young Minds as the national competition of the International Association of Physics Students, it brings together bachelor’s and master’s students to compete for a place at the international finals. In 2026, twenty teams tackled a diverse problem set spanning migratory-bird magnetoreception, graphene transport and Klein tunneling, neutrino oscillations, strong gravitational lensing, radiation of accelerated charges, and fundamental limits of silicon technology. Working collaboratively under time pressure, teams develop models, identify approximations, and structure solutions—mirroring core elements of real research and promoting learning through high-value, research-inspired problems. Formats such as “Students vs. Professors” and comparisons with ChatGPT and offline AI models add perspective, but the focus remains: physics is best learned by actively solving challenging problems together.