‘Kick-ass’ Physics undergraduates triumph in PLANCKS competition

A team from Merton have triumphed in the UK & Ireland preliminary round of an international physics competition, and will now go forward to participate in the finals of PLANCKS - The Physics League Across Numerous Countries for Kick-ass Students - which takes place in London from 8 to 10 May.

Richard Chatterjee, Ross McDonald, Rayhan Mahmud, and Oskar Maatta, all third-year Physics undergraduates, travelled to Edinburgh for last weekend's competition. They were given a problem set consisting of 8 challenging physics problems, which had to be solved in four hours. The Merton team scored a total of 41 out of a possible 80 marks, with teams from Cambridge (37) and Imperial College London (35) taking second and third spots.

As well as problem-solving, the weekend included talks from academics, as well as social events - including a ceilidh - and time to explore the city. Richard said:

"It was a fantastic weekend: solving insightful physics problems together, seeing talks from brilliant academics, meeting students from other universities, and on top of all that- we won! Thank you to the PLANCKS Edinburgh committee for organising such a great event, and bring on the international finals."

The team's participation was made possible in part through a grant from the College, which covered the cost of their travel to Scotland.