Science Talk at Gmund – Quantum Physics in Everyday Life: “There’s a lot more to come”

As knowledge-hungry schoolchildren will be active again from Monday, teachers of biology, chemistry, physics and general science gathered for more unorthodox training in the last week of recess. The Gmund Gymnasium was the site of the 13th Nawi Summer of the Teaching Church University Krems.

An annual fixed point in the program is the Science Dialogue with a naturalist in collaboration with the Stark Library. High school principal Ronald Bender and Birgitte Starck also welcomed several physics teachers from the vicinity, who did not want to miss out on the fun of popular science. This year, multi-award winning quantum physicist and science journalist Florian Aigner presented his book Why We Don’t Cross Walls (But Our Particles Do) in an entertaining way. Born in Freistadt, he led his listeners into the world of the smallest particles, which is completely incomprehensible to many.

“Let’s stay curious!”

“Don’t want to understand quantum physics, just accept it,” he recommended, making his explanations truly understandable. The results and applications have reached our daily lives, for example with lasers, semiconductors, photovoltaics and new materials. “There is still a lot to come,” Aigner said optimistically, and to that effect he asked: “Let’s stay curious!” The question asked by Birgitte Stark, who came out as a fan of the Starship Enterprise, about whether radiation was actually possible the next day, he had to sadly deny: that quantum teleportation does not work in the “classical world” of humans.

More than 80 teachers from all kinds of schools in eastern Austria took part in this year’s Nawi summer. Organizers Renate Boes and Peter Pollak at the three-day event with workshops, excursions and lectures: “This application-oriented mix brings people back to us every year. Here are the tools that teachers use to go to class. There is enough time to focus and exchange. It is very motivating to start studying.” In addition to other points of focus, the topic was how to deal with AI – the keyword ChatGPT – in school.