FIRST STEP TO NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS

First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics is an annual international competition in research projects in physics. All the secondary (high) school students regardless of the country, type of the school, sex, nationality etc. are eligible for the competition. The only conditions are that the school cannot be considered as a university college and the age of the participants should not exceed 20 years on March 31 (every year March 31 is the deadline for submitting the competition papers). There are no restrictions concerning the subject matter of the papers, their level, methods applied etc. All these are left to the participants' choice. The papers, however, have to have a research character and deal with physics topics or topics directly related to physics.

The project belongs to the out-of-school education. Participation in the competition does not need any agreement from the school or educational authorities. The pupils conduct their research in the way and conditions which are the most convenient to them.

Characteristic features of the First Step are:

1. The criteria used when evaluating the papers are quite adult - we do not apply any discounts for the young age of the participants.
2. There are no prizes such as cameras, video, etc. Also there are no financial prizes. Instead the winners are invited to our Institute for one month for research stays (usually in November). During the stays they are involved into real research works going on in the Institute.
3. Every year the proceedings with the awarded papers are published.

The competition is guided by the Organizing Committee and consists of all the members of the Scientific Council of the Institute. The papers are evaluated by the Evaluating Committee nominated by the Organizing Committee. In the first two competitions only Polish physicists participated in the Evaluation Committee. In the third competition one foreigner took part in evaluation of the papers. In the fourth competition the number of physicists from foreign countries was 10. In the fifth competition number of foreigners in the Evaluating Committee was 14, etc. In the future we are going to enlarge the number of foreign physicists in the Evaluation Committee. Recently a collective body named International Advisory Committee has been created. It consists of 25 persons with great experience in work with high school students.

The materials on the competition are disseminated to all the countries via diplomatic channels. The competition is also advertised in different physics magazines for pupils and teachers. (Every year about 30 articles on the First Step are published in different countries). Also different private channels are used. In the first eight competitions the pupils from 67 countries participated.

The First Step (as far as we know) is the only competition that publishes proceedings with practically all the awarded papers. Due to that all our most important decisions may be verified.

The main aims of the competition are:

1. Promotion of scientific interests among young pupils;
2. Selection of outstanding pupils (this point is especially important in case of pupils from countries or regions in which access to science is difficult) and their promotion (very often our winners are send to better universities and receive appropriate financial help from the local authorities);
3. Stimulation of the schools, parents, local educational centers, etc. for greater activity in work with pupils interested in research (we know that in some countries, some regions and even in some schools a preliminary local selection in organized, sometime such selections involve great numbers of participants);
4. Establishing friendly relations between young physicists (recently all the winners are invited to the Institute in the same time, they are accommodated in the same place, they cooperate with each other, etc.).

Prof. Dr. hab. Henryk Szymczak President of the Organizing Committee szymh@ifpan.edu.pl