| Written by Angelina M. Bacala, Ph.D.,
on 15-10-2007 14:22
|
Views : 344  |
Favoured : 18 |
Published in : The News, Education |
Tags : physics, pisika, spvm, tagbilaran, visayas, bohol, los baņos, laguna, conference, workshop, baguio, philippines, ictp, asian, theoretical |
October is a hot season for physics in our country! Yes, there is such a thing as physics for fun and pleasure or tourism in our country today. And that is because the two physics societies will be holding their respective annual conventions this month of October in different places as they do so each year.
Physics Organizations in the Philippines The Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas, a national physics organization based in Metro Manila will hold its annual congress in Los Baños, Laguna. Another society, the Samahang Pisika ng Visayas at Mindanao (SPVM) chose as its venue the beautiful island of Bohol, in the city of Tagbilaran this coming October 25-27, 2007 at the Holy Name University.There is a third physics society based in the Visayas called the Philippine Physics Society that holds their annual gathering during April of each year. These three are so far the only surviving national physics societies in our country today. The SPVM is an organization of physicists, physics teachers, students, and physics enthusiasts based in Mindanao but has members from almost all regions in the country. In fact, SPVM's slated annual physics conference and workshop next year will be held in the cool, beautiful pine city of Baguio in the north. What to Expect in the SPVM Conference What will participants to this SPVM Conference learn? Apart from the usual fare of changing pedagogies in teaching physics, the participants will be updated on some of the current physics research and development works occuring right in their own country. Will one of these lead to Nobel prize-winning work? Of course not; at least not yet. And until the Filipino government invests significantly on basic physics R&D in particular, and science and technology in general, this question will just border on sheer madness.
But many other rewards in doing physics and the teaching of physics in our country still remains. That's why, amazing as this sounds, some of our bright young physicists are sticking it out in poorly-paid academic positions rather than join the bandwagon in finding greener pastures abroad. At least for them, understanding the deep secrets of physical nature and communicating it to the younger generation of Filipino students is an attraction and a great motivation in itself. And maybe, just maybe at a later time, their own native inventions will bring economic success. Asking the Very Basic Questions A case in point is the World Wide Web or WWW. It's hard to imagine what global business would be like without the web. And the web's impact on culture worldwide is still evolving. But at least our Filipino youth should be told that the WWW was invented in the place, in the atmosphere of people asking very basic questions that has nothing to do with commerce; nothing at all to do with making money. Tim Berners-Lee invented WWW in a high energy physics laboratory in Geneva to be used by people asking questions like:
What is matter made of? will forces in the universe become one?why are there quarks and electrons and neutrinos? or like how did the universe come to be? or even are there extra dimensions of space?Hear from Physicists from Other Countries
In Tagbilaran, Bohol this October our teachers and young people will get to hear also some physicists coming from India, Japan, Korea and Taiwan on possible answers to these tantalizing questions. Are these really important topics? Well, at least they are for the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy because the Office of External Affairs of ICTP has just given SPVM a generous funding to bring some of these physiciststo Bohol this October for the First Asian Regional High Energy Physics Meeting in conjunction with SPVM 2007.
If you are a physics student or a physics teacher or just a plain enthusiast but are interested about new stuff this coming October in Bohol please visit www.physics.msuiit.edu.ph/spvm for details. Or you may contact directly the Convention Director, Engr. Juliet Espiritu of the Holy Name University in Tagbilaran City at 09173044609or at 09173949220. Last update : 19-10-2007 12:09
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