Girls' Day at QuantumFrontiers

As in many other technical and scientific fields, female scientists are currently underrepresented in QuantumFrontiers. The Cluster of Excellence has therefore been involved since the beginning with activities for equal opportunities and the promotion of young scientists in order to particularly inspire girls to study STEM subjects.

This year, a total of 35 girls and boys gained an insight into the work at modern physics research institutes at the TU Braunschweig and Leibniz Universität Hannover as part of Girls' Day.

At the TU Braunschweig, around 130 pupils visited the North Campus. After a welcome by Professor Eckart Voigts, the young people were accompanied to various institutes, including nine in the Department of Physics and Physics Didactics. There they discussed good physics teaching and tried out physics animations together with students. With augmented reality and virtual reality, they were able to immerse themselves in unknown worlds. Tim Overwin, PhD student in the QF Masterclasses, explained the use of 3D printing in teaching physics and how you can soon print a Michelson interferometer yourself. The students were able to design their own shopping chip in the 3D model and take it home.

At Leibniz University, two groups of young scientists-to-be successfully completed their first experiments on microgravity. At the Einstein Elevator of the Hanover Institute of Technology (HITec), researchers are planning experiments under conditions similar to those in space - without having to launch a rocket into space. For example, they are investigating how 3D printing can be used in satellite missions. During their visit, the 26 young people first dealt with the theoretical basics and were finally able to equip a research capsule with their own research objects and shoot them into zero gravity for four seconds in the Einstein Elevator.