Physics interesting to school children

Press, 29 August 1980, Page 4

Physics interesting to school children

Sixty-five Christchurch school children spent yesterday studying “hysteretic dampers” and “the technology of earth resource satellites”, — with no compulsion evident at all. The fact that it was the school holidays, concerned no-one. They even paid for the privilege, a nominal fee to cover the cost of their- refreshments. .

The National Physics Conference has been running all week, with more than 200 senior physicists from New Zealand, Australia, Britain and the United States, treated to specialist addresses on topics such as energy, optics, and the upper atmosphere. Sessions on the physical sciences and medicine have been held in conjunction

with the conference, but yesterday belonged to the school children, seventh-for-mers from throughout Christchurch. t < S - . The organiser of the conference (Dr J. A. Campbell) said that the success of the day could be measured 'by the attendance. At the final lecture, there - Were - just as many present, all listening attentively, as at the first, t The aim of the conference, according to Dr Campbell, was to get physicists togeth? er. At a senior level, physicists could discuss .issues such as new techniques of radio-carbon dating; the young people could gain glimpses of a whole range of specialist activity and develop an interest in physics.