Nearly 150 high school students from 27 countries will converge on Brisbane this week competing for a chance to deliver a knockout blow for physics.

In the thick of things will be several of CSIRO's bright young physicists.

They will be refereeing a series of 'Physics Fights' at the 17th International Young Physicists Tournament, IYPT.

Dr Jan Herrmann from CSIRO's Industrial Physics division says, "This competition sounds like great fun! I love the concept of the Physics Fight. I'm looking forward to seeing the students fighting to the death over partial differential equations and input impedances! Hopefully they won't be too much smarter than me. I may have to hide behind the mask of a 'serious scientist' to fool them." Jan will be a referee in the Physics Fights.

The tournament runs from 24 June to 1 July 2004 and is being hosted by Brisbane Grammar School and Brisbane Girls Grammar School. CSIRO is a sponsor of the tournament.

Dr Gerry Haddad, Chief of CSIRO Industrial Physics, says, "This tournament brings together students, teachers and scientists in a competition that will hopefully excite a new generation of physicists.  Physics is an elegant branch of science which is the basis of our understanding of the natural world.

"CSIRO is committed to raising the profile of physics, generating excitement and interest in the discipline, and attracting more young people to take up physics as a career. I see this competition an ideal way to do this, and we hope to build on our involvement next year."

CSIRO's site at Lindfield has the largest collection of physicists in the one location in Australia.

IYPT is a theoretical and practical research based competition for teams of five high school students, usually in their last year of study. It is an international competition with teams from all over the world taking part.

"Australian students are strong competitors. We have been involved with this competition since 1998 with a 2nd place in Helsinki in 2001 and a joint 3rd place in Odessa in 2002," says Alan Allinson, head of Physics at Brisbane Girls Grammar School and organiser of the Tournament. "This is the first time the competition has been held in Australia."

The students research 17 problems and then present and defend their findings in "Physics Fights" as part of a structured competition. In one round a team competes against two other teams and three problems are addressed. Each team acts as Reporter, Opponent and Reviewer in turn. After five rounds the top three teams will advance to the final.

Among the problems to be researched is the Brazil Nut effect where, in a shaken granular mixture like muesli, the larger particles often end up on top of the smaller ones. It is a puzzle that has occupied the minds of many scientists over the years.

More information:

International Young Physicists Tournament website: www.iyptaustralia.org

Alan Allinson, Brisbane Girls Grammar School, 07 3332 1361

Email: allinson@bggs.qld.edu.au

Dr Jan Herrmann, CSIRO, 02 9413 7267 jan.herrmann@csiro.au

Dr Gerry Haddad, CSIRO, 02 9413 7802, mobile: 0417 717 858

Email: gerry.haddad@csiro.au

Media Assistance:

Jacqui De Battista, CSIRO, 02 9413 7641, mobile: 0419 259 560

Email: jacqui.debattista@csiro.au

Images available

Jan Herrmann, Piers Barnes and Marcel Bick