Jun 2 2006
Two young physicists are preparing to take on the big challenges of the day including increasing computing power and improving the efficiency of fuel cells for rockets and space shuttles. They will be supported in their endeavours by a new scholarship to support Australia’s best young physicists.
Jolyon Bloomfield from ANU in Canberra and Yakov Kulik from UNSW in Sydney received their $15,000 scholarships from the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and the Australian Institute of Physics (AIP) at a dinner in Canberra.
“The world needs more young physicists,” says David Jamieson, President of the Australian Institute of Physics. “We need them to help us develop cleaner forms of energy; to create future generations of computers. We need them to drive the continuing exploration of the cosmos.” “And industry needs them. Physicists are in demand around the world – everywhere from IT, to energy, even finance,” he says. “DSTO is one of the largest employers of scientists in Australia,” says Roger Lough, Chief Defence Scientist with DSTO who congratulated the two scholars last night. “And we are particularly reliant on highly qualified physics graduates.” “We are delighted by DSTO’s leadership in supporting excellence in young physicists,” says David.
Canberra’s Jolyon Bloomfield has discovered an enthusiasm for the quantum world in his study of physics and maths. “I think physics will drive breakthroughs in computing,” he says. “Increased computing power, better communications and enhanced security are going to happen because of quantum computing. That’s the area that I want to get into. It’s a young and exciting field with so much scope for research and development.” Quantum computers will use single atoms to store and process information. To quote Jolyon, “Quantum computers will use entangled quantum states to process information in a similar mechanism to the teleportation experiments performed at the ANU in 2002.” Yakov Kulik has a passion for theoretical physics – and believes his studies will find application in developing new energy sources.
Energy is a big issue facing Australia and the world. Yakov’s studies could help the design of better fuel cells – used in spacecraft and rockets – and in improving oil extraction. In the long term he hopes to use statistical mechanics to solve the greatest hurdle to fusion energy – containing the plasma of a thermonuclear reaction.
The two winners were selected from across Australia based on their academic record and their motivation to study physics. The scholarships were established in part to celebrate the Einstein International Year of Physics. Einstein published four revolutionary ideas in 1905 at the very young age of 26.
The scholarship scheme will run for three years with two scholarships awarded each year to the value of $15,000. The Australian Institute of Physics is responsible for the administration and competitive selection of scholarship candidates.
http://www.aip.org.au/