Author: Swiss Physical Society

The Swiss Physical Society (SPS) at its last General Assembly in September 2021 elected Johan Chang (University of  Zürich, johan.chang@physik.uzh.ch) as its new President and Hans Peter Beck  (University of Bern, Hans.Peter.Beck@cern.ch) as its new Vice-President. The Secretary Lukas Gallmann (ETH Zürich, gallmann@phys.ethz.ch) is continuing his office.

The full board composition can be found here: https://www.sps.ch/en/sps/executive-committee.

Author: Hans Peter Beck and Maurizio Musso

The 7^th joint annual meeting of the Austrian Physical Society (ÖPG [1]) and the Swiss Physical Society (SPS [2]), held at the Technology Campus of the University of Innsbruck / Austria from August 30^th to September 3^rd, 2021, will go down in the annals of the ÖPG and SPS as a great success. Over 600 participants attended on site an extremely successful program [3], thanks to the very constructive interaction of all board members of the SPS and the ÖPG in preparation and final design of the joint conference, both with regard to the plenary session and the topical sessions, and also with regard to the entire award ceremony for prizes awarded by ÖPG and SPS, the ceremony including the binational Charpak-Ritz Prize, jointly awarded by SPS and the French Physical Society SFP [4].

This year lectures in the plenary session spanned a wide range of physical and physics-related aspects [3], i.e. from surfaces at the atomic scale to materials, from quantum states to quantum optics and quantum technologies, from particle colliders to free electron lasers, from exoplanets to black holes, from physics and education to physics and society, in particular also in connection with innovative products by start-ups, with renewable energy and its repercussion on the climate, and with quality of life in connection with medical applications of physics-related technology.

Stimulated by the talks given in the plenary session and in the topical sessions, and by the personal exchange during the poster sessions, where some are accessible online [3], it was indeed possible to show what the advantages of a personal exchange are, being again achievable with the Covid certificate being checked at the registration desk, and where it became self-evident that physicists are predominately fully vaccinated.  When new contacts are made, when informal conversations spontaneously arise and where one can build up mutual trust, the glue is formed to do further and better research, allowing trying out new ideas in physics, which are the base for the proposition and realization of new projects. It is this inspiring vibe that motivates young members to stay long-term members of the two societies and thus allows to actively shape the future activities of the two societies, which get then also constructively reflected by the associated activities of the EPS.

Winners of the prizes of the Austrian and of the Swiss Physical Society, and the winner of the binational Charpak-Ritz Prize of the Swiss and of the French Physical Society, together with the presidents of the French, Swiss and Austrian Physical Societies. The prizes have been bestowed during the 7^th joint annual meeting of the Austrian and Swiss Physical Society in Innsbruck/Austria from 30^th August to 3^rd September 2021.

[1] Austrian Physical Society http://www.oepg.at/

[2] Swiss Physical Society https://www.sps.ch/en/home

[3] Program of the Joint Annual Meeting of ÖPG and SPS 2021 https://indico.cern.ch/event/1015032/timetable  

[4] French Physical Society https://www.sfpnet.fr/

Previous report: https://www.eps.org/blogpost/751263/367164/Traditional-Joint-Annual-Meeting-of-two-physical-societies-2021

Authors: French Physical Society & Swiss Physical Society

The French Physical Society and the Swiss Physical Society  are proud to announce the 2021 winner of the Charpak-Ritz Prize:

Marie-Emmanuelle Couprie

image credit: Philippe Berteaud

Marie-Emmanuelle Couprie, researcher at the 2.75 GeV electron synchrotron SOLEIL, located south of Paris, has received this award for her outstanding contributions "in light sources using particle accelerators to emit synchrotron radiation of high spectral purity and high degrees of longitudinal and transverse coherence".

Dr. Couprie is the head of the Magnetism and Insertion Device group at SOLEIL and she is in charge of piloting the Free Electron Laser activities. She is an expert of Free Electron Laser theory and applications, she has an outstanding track record of referred publications, and she is strongly involved in the development of technologies with industries.

The Swiss Physical Society congratulates Marie-Emmanuelle Couprie warmly on this prestigious award. [More: spf-website, sps-website].

Marie-Emmanuelle Couprie will receive the Charpak-Ritz medal on 1 September 2021 in the award ceremony of the annual meeting, jointly organised by the Swiss and Austrian physical societies, 31 August to 3 September 2021 in Innsbruck, Austria, where she will also present her work in a plenary talk to the participants of the conference.

Author: Swiss Physical Society

The world celebrates this year the 450th birthday of Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), whose planetary laws are based on the invariance of physical quantities as the angular momentum. Many scientists consider the formulation of the motion laws as the kick-off of modern physics. Kepler, however, owes his success largely to the precise observation instruments of the Swiss watchmaker Jost Bürgi (1552-1632), who is also considered as co-inventor of the logarithm. Their fruitful cooperation culminated around 1600, when both worked closely together with Tycho Brahe in Prague. Everybody today knows Kepler and Brahe, but only few know Bürgi, who did not master Latin, did not extensively publish and consequently fell off the grid of history of science.

The SPS helps that Bürgi finds the scientific recognition he deserves by co-organizing an annual symposium since 2015. This year the 5th international symposium will take place again as a two-day event, first with a full-day workshop on Bürgi's person, work and historical environment on Friday 30 April 2021, and on the next day with a half-day forum, addressing future technologies. The venue is Bürgi's birthplace Lichtensteig in the Swiss canton St. Gallen, https://www.jostbuergi.com/

The thematic focus at the Friday workshop with four lectures is the 400th anniversary of the publication of Bürgi's 'Progresstabulen', i.e. the logarithms, which Bürgi constructed for his own use already in 1590, but published them only thirty years later. A careful analysis of the history of the logarithm shows that John Napier and Jost Bürgi are undoubtedly to be regarded as independent co-inventors of the logarithm.

Portrait of Jost Bürgi