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1. Aerobatic Displays: Seeking Feedback
In 2012 the Physics Days had their first aerobatic display by one of the Roulettes team. Each year after that we have requested a display on one or more of the days. The Defence Forces and the RAAF base at Sale have other commitments that take priority, in some years there has been no display and in other years there was a display on one of the days.

The Physics Days at Luna Park now stretch to the full week. A request for a display by one of the Roulettes on one or more of the days for 2025 received the confirmation of a display on each of the five days. There were displays on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. On Thursday, the plane departed Sale, but by the time it reached the site, the low cloud cover meant that the display would have been unsafe, the pilot was not able to see the ground.

The support this year has been extraordinary, along with Flight Simulators at Luna Park on each day.
We would like to include in our letter of appreciation comments from those on the ground, teachers and students.

Please send your comments to Vicphysics here .

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2. International Women's Day
The journal PhysicsWorld has articles celebrating International Women's Day. However their lead story is on reports from the US of online biographies of female scientists being edited to remove references to activities that contradict Donald Trump’s executive orders denouncing diversity initiatives. One of the affected biographies is of the astronomer Vera Rubin, who pioneered the notion of dark matter through her studies of the anomalous motion of galaxies.

Article on Émilie Du Châtelet's Newton. Emilie was the first French translator of Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica
Article on Mary Somerville the polymath: mathematics, astronomy and orange marmalade. Mary Somerville (1780-1872) (See right) was called 'Queen of Science' in a newspaper obituary, but she was more than just a mathematician, a writer, a scientist.
Trailblazer: astronaut Eileen Collins reflects on space, adventure, and the power of lifelong learning. Podcast: Astronaut Eileen Collins shares her extraordinary journey as the first woman to pilot and command a spacecraft.
From banking to quantum optics: Michelle Lollie’s unique journey. Michelle Lollie transitioned from a career in finance to developing quantum optical systems in industry. She talks about the American Physical Society (APS) Bridge Program; as well as her unique journey, including the challenges and triumphs of navigating the field as a Black woman.
Behind every great woman in science, there’s another great woman in science Article in Nature: Six award-winning female scientists highlight women who have inspired them by pushing innovative research and creating opportunities for others.
Webinar: Women and physics: Navigating history, careers, and the path forward. The session covered various topics such as the historical role of women in physics, the current statistics on female representation in education and careers, navigating family life and career, and the critical role men play in fostering a supportive environment. The 60 min webinar was recorded in Nov 2024.
Posters: Forces of Nature Series by Perimeter Institute. 9 high res pdf files available as free downloads. Poster of Rosalind Franklin on the right.

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3. 117 Stories from the History of Physics
The HAPP (History and Philosophy of Physics) Centre at Oxford University has released a commemorative volume of articles across 30 different aspects of physics. This is a treasure trove that will keep you engaged for ages. They include:

Medieval Physics (5 articles) inc Roger Bacon: legend and legacy
Physics Feuds (5) including Democritus and Aristotle, Bohr and Einstein, Newton and Hooke, Big Bang vs Steady State
Voltaire and Newton (4 articles)
Emigres at Oxford (5) including Einstein and Schrodinger at Oxford, Rudolf Peierls at Oxford
Polymaths (5) including Al-Buruni, Hooke, Young, Mary Somerville and Feynman
Great War (3) including communication technologies, evolution of combat aircraft
Brilliant Blunders (1) covering Kelvin, Hoyle and Einstein
Medieval Astronomy (5) including Chinese, Ptolemaic, Islamic, Aztec
History of the Moon (5), including Tides, Apollo program
History of the Sun (5) including Copernicus to Newton, Eddington to Bethe, Unsolved questions
Dark Side (3)
Space Travel (4) including Past and future, Space exploration in China
ETI (4) including historical overview, SETI in China
The Martian (1) Fact and fiction
Nature of Time (5) including What is a clock? Time before Big Bang, Time Travel?
From Space to Spacetime (4) including Newton and Leibniz, Case of the aether, Bending space and time
Nature of Light (5) including, Rainbow, History of colour, Rays to waves and beyond, History of the speed of light
Paradigm shifts (4) including Aristotle, Ptolemy and Copernicus, Volta to Maxwell, Relativity and Quantum, Kuhn's paradigms
Quantum Reality (4) including Action at a distance, S's Cat, Multiverse, Quantum technology
Philosophy of Cosmology (3) including Explaining the Big Bang, Philosophy of Relativity
Wittgenstein and Physics (3) including Einstein and Wittgenstein
Scientific Thinking Across the Centuries (1) by Carlo Rovelli
Order and Chaos (5) including Examples of entropy, Chaos from celestial mechanics to climate
History of the Small (5) including The History of the Atom, emergence of nanoscience
Physics Controversies (5) including Copernicus, Cold fusion, Perpetual Motion
Symmetries in Physics (5) including, Maxwell, Noether and Einstein, Broken symmetries in particle physics
Big Science in Physics (5) including, Before and after Manhattan, CERN, LHC and Higgs
Living Things (4) including the evolution of temperature measurement, brief history of medical imaging
Greatest Physics Discovery of the 20th Century (3)
Particle Physics since 1945 (1) Emergence of standard model

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4. PD In Term 2
a) Just in Time PD each Thursday of Semester 1

Each Thursday, two teachers will share their plans for the week, starting 10 days ahead. The PD is for teachers teaching Unit 3 for the first time or seeking a refresher course. The sessions are online and from the broadcast studio at John Monash Science School, so participants can see demonstrations and other practical activities. The presenters are Kathryn Grainger and Dr Penny Hale from John Monash Science School

The one hour sessions start at 3:45pm with the last 15 mins for questions from participants. The first session was last Thursday, which was on topics already covered.

Registration Fee: $60 with discounts available. You can register at any time, but there is no reduced fee for coming in after the program has started.

Limitation: Due to the conditions placed on the use of the studio, this event is only for teachers from Government and Catholic schools.

b) Beginning Physics Teachers' In-Service, Tues, 8th April
If you are teaching physics for the first time or returning to physics teaching., this workshop will be of value.
It will be on Tuesday, 8th April in the first week of the school holidays at John Monash Science School. Check here for details of the program and to register. The link in last week's newsletter incorrectly went to the 2024 event. The program has two regular features:

practical activities demonstrated by experienced teachers and
a presentation by Colin Hopkins on techniques for teaching and learning, which will complement his PHYSCON talks plus
two other sessions from a list of four, based on the participants' preference when they register.

The cost is $60 with member discounts.

c) Out of Field PD: Special Relativity, Forces & Motion, Light & Sound
The Out of Field PD continues in 2025 starting in Term 2. The program starts with

Special Relativity online from 1st May to 12th June in seven two-hour sessions at 4:30pm. Presented by Theo Hughes.
Forces and Motion online from 5th May to 9th June in six two-hour sessions at 4:30pm. Presented by Bridget Blackburn.
Light and Sound at John Monash Science School ins six two-hour sessions at 4:30pm. Presented by Barbara McKinnon.

Cost of each event: $265 per participant with discounts for teachers from Government schools ($55) and from schools with a low ICSEA rank.
To Book an event: Click on the link above.

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5. Events for Students
a) Study Skills Webinar: 29th April, 6pm - 7pm

Vicphysics is organising a Study Skills webinar for VCE physics students. It will be held on Tuesday, 29th April. It will be an online event from 6pm to 7pm.

The cost is $10.00 inc GST per person, which will also include access to prepared material.

There will be three presenters (details to follow), each speaking for 15 mins on one of the three topics below, followed by 15 mins of question time in breakout rooms for each topic.

The Science of learning
How the brain works
Preparing for SACs and exams

Students can make individual bookings here. Credit card is required.
Schools can make group bookings here. Credit card and EFT are available.

Bookings close on Thursday, 24th April.
The Vicphysics website also has two web pages to assist students Advice on Revising Physics and Advice of Learning Physics.

b) Girls in Physics Breakfasts in 2025
These are the dates and speaker details for breakfasts that have been organised. Bookings are now open for Term 1 and early Term 2 events. Term 1 events close this Friday. You can make an interim booking and student details the following week.
The support of the Invergowrie Foundation has enabled Vicphysics to increase the subsidy for the student fee for the regional breakfasts. The fee this year is now $15.

Bendigo, 20th March. Using Radiotherapy to Treat Skin Cancer with Emma Dyce and Natalie Clements, Medical Physicists with Genesis Care Bookings open. Closing date: 14th March
Mildura, 25th March. The Fascinating World of Solar Energy with Damaris Getanda from RayGen. Bookings open Closing date: 14th March
Ballarat, 26th March. Molecular Movies with X-ray lasers with A/Prof Nadia Zatsepin, Swinburne University Bookings open Closing date: 14th March
Wodonga, 8th May. Breath of Discovery: Nanotechnology a Disease Breathalyser with Renee Goreham, University of Newcastle Bookings open Closing date: 28th April
Monash University Date: TBC, Amelia Lui and Taïssa Danilovich, Monash University
Traralgon, Early June.
Geelong, 14th August. i) How important are powders? ii) Rethinking Waste: Engineering a Circular Future with Negin Amini and Sirjana Adhikari, Deakin University Bookings open Closing date: 4th August
Melbourne, 20th May, The AIP Women in Physics speaker is Dr Danielle Holmes (UNSW Sydney). She works in quantum computing. Bookings will open when details of her topic are available and flyers have been prepared.

Bookings
Starting Times in 2025. This year the metropolitan events will start at 8:00am and the regional events will start at 8:30am.

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6. Other Events for Teachers

a) PD on SACs in March
Last year in June, Vicphysics ran a PD on SACs, partly in response to some schools' experience of the audit process, but mainly about the increased specificity in the descriptions of the four formats available for assessment tasks.
The event will be repeated this year, but earlier.
It is an online event, after school, over two Thursdays a week apart.
Dates: Thursdays 13th and 20th March
Times: 5:00pm to 6:30pm
Cost: None
To register and for more details. click here. The webpage also has resources from last year's PD
In the form we ask you for some information:

In what format do you plan to do your first assessment task,
If decided, the format for your other assessment tasks.
Whether you can look after a breakout room and
Whether you are happy to zoom/share your assessment task

b) PHYSCON 2025 - Making a Quantum Leap: Proceedings and Post Conference Registration

The “PHYSCON 2025 – Making a Quantum Leap,” was held on Friday, 21 February. Participants have on-going access to the resources of all workshops and to the recorded video presentations. They received an email from Zoom Events like this one.
Clicking on the link in the email takes you back into the event lobby. You can then click on the sessions tab and watch the recording from any of the 38 recorded sessions. For each session, if you scroll down to the bottom you will find a shared ppt and pdf resources as well as a pdf containing a link to a google drive folder which may include more resources in other formats.

Post Conference Registration
If you were not able to attend but would like to also get access, you can register here.
The fee is $135 with discounts for Vicphysics members.
The program can be viewed here.

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7. Vicphysics matters

i) Vicphysics Membership and Access to the Teachers' Resources on the website.

Vicphysics has changed its membership structure, benefits and fees. Previously, a subscription to the website resources was separate from being a member of Vicphysics. Access to website resources is now being included as one of a number of member benefits.
Membership benefits include:

access to teacher resources section of the website
discounts to attend conferences, in-services, etc,
certification for attending each PD event,
PL certificate for committee meetings supplied at the end of the calendar year and
voting rights.

Membership fees are: Individual: $60, Retired: $40, Student (tertiary): $40, School: $120.

Vicphysics also offers a Resources Access Only option without the discounts and other benefits listed above. The fees for this option are the same as above.

Existing subscribers currently receive discounts, which will cease when their subscription expires. At that point, subscribers will need to choose between the two options above for continued access to the Teacher resources.

We are looking forward to increasing the membership base of Vicphysics and to fostering member input into our extensive range of activities from Physics teaching professional learning such as our recent SAC PD events or the Physics Teachers Conference to supporting activities for students, such as the Luna Park Physics Days or photo and poster competitions.
You can join us here!

ii) Vicphysics Forum: Tips and Questions for the Physics Teaching Community

The Vicphysics Teachers’ Network has set up an online Forum for teachers to raise issues, seek ideas, offer suggestions, etc.

Link here directly, or look out for it on our webpage where it can be found at the top right of our home page.

We hope it will be an opportunity for mutual professional development.

The forum is open to all teachers. If you are a subscriber, you can log in the usual way. If you are not a subscriber, you can register to use the forum at ‘My Account’. Given the purposes of this Forum, we ask that you use your real name when generating a topic or lodging a post.

We hope this Forum will become a valuable medium for exchanging ideas as we begin planning the new study design.

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8. Physics News from the Web

Items selected from the bulletin of the Institute of Physics (UK).Each item below includes the introductory paragraphs and a web link to the rest of the article.

a) A breakthrough in all-organic proton batteries for safer, sustainable energy storage
Researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have developed a new type of rechargeable battery that uses protons (H⁺ ions) as charge carriers, offering a safer and more environmentally friendly alternative to conventional lithium-ion batteries.
Unlike traditional batteries that rely on metal ions, such as lithium or sodium, this innovative design harnesses protons for fast charge transfer and exceptional stability over thousands of cycles.

b) Curious consequence of special relativity observed for the first time in the lab
A counterintuitive result from Einstein’s special theory of relativity has finally been verified more than 65 years after it was predicted. The prediction states that objects moving near the speed of light will appear rotated to an external observer, and physicists in Austria have now observed this experimentally using a laser and an ultrafast stop-motion camera.

c) How physics raised the roof: the people and places that drove the science of acoustics
A review of Pistols in St Paul’s: Science, Music and Architecture in the Twentieth Century by historian Fiona Smyth, The book is an intriguing journey charting the development of acoustics in architecture during the first half of the 20th century. Sometimes an attention-grabbing title is the best thing about a book, but not in this case.

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