ART OF PHYSICS COMPETITION

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The Canadian Association of Physicists launched the first Art of Physics Competition at their 1992 Annual Congress in Windsor, Ontario. The aim of the competition is to stimulate interest, especially among non-scientists, in some of the captivating imagery associated with physics. The challenge is to capture photographically a beautiful or unusual physics phenomenon and explain it in less than 200 words in terms that everyone can understand.

Click here for details on how to participate in this year's competition.

All entrants of the competition also have the chance to have their entries included in an Art of Physics exhibition. All the entries which were received are kept on file and may appear at a future date as a cover for Physics in Canada.

Winners of all the competitions held since 1993 are shown below. Click on the image to see a full-size image along with the accompanying explanation (note: the explanation is reproduced in the language of submission).


2017 Winners -- (Click here to see Honourable Mentions)
Supported Through Tension The Future of Optics L'effet Leidenfrost The Rainbow Phenomenon: Beyond The White La Gouttelette Larmes Photoélastiques Super Lune Réfractée
1st Prize
High School Individual Category
2nd Prize
High School Individual Category
1st Prize
High School Class Category
2nd Prize
High School Class Category
3rd Prize
High School Class Category
1st Prize
Open Category
2nd Prize
Open Category



The 2016 competition was deferred. All eligible entries received were considered for the 2017 competition.


2015 Winners -- (Click here to see Honourable Mentions)
Gas, Water, and Light Spaces and Dimensions Spring Melt Icicles Upside down, smaller and real image in the same scene Tout est dans le centre de la masse Aile de drosophile Que la lumière s' Watt Reflection in Glass
1st Prize
High School Individual Category
2nd Prize
High School Individual Category
3rd Prize
High School Individual Category
1st Prize
High School Class Category
2nd Prize
High School Class Category
1st Prize
Open Category
1st Prize
2015 International Year of Light
2nd Prize
2015 International Year of Light


2014 Winners -- (Honourable Mentions)
The Displacement Log Reflection of the Sun Magnetic Fields A Myopic Perspective of the Sunrise Vibrating Speaker Illusion Biréfringence Arctic Ice Crystals over Yellowknife Aurore boréale
1st Place
High School Individual Category
2nd Place
High School Individual Category
3rd Place
High School Individual Category
1st Place
High School Class Category
2nd Place
High School Class Category
1st Place
Open Category
2nd Place
Open Category
3rd Place
Open Category


2013 Winners -- (Honourable Mentions)
Waterbending Laser Diffractions Spoon and Milk Ready, Set, Glow Miscibilité et masse volumique Tension superficielle Ice Contours Pixels
1st Place
High School Individual Category
2nd Place
High School Individual Category
3rd Place
High School Individual Category
1st Place
High School Class Category
2nd Place
High School Class Category
1st Place
Open Category
2nd Place
Open Category
3rd Place
Open Category


2012 Winners -- (Honourable Mentions)
Bonds in Focus Star light, star bright, are you a fan of Coherent Light? Ferrofluid Reflecting Infinity Crayon Energy The Diverging Glass
1st Place
High School Individual Category
2nd Place
High School Individual Category
3rd Place
High School Individual Category
1st Place
High School Class Category
2nd Place
High School Class Category
3rd Place
High School Class Category


2011 Winners -- (Honourable Mentions)
Laser Diffraction Resonance Rainbow Flames La colonne d'eau Interférence sur un CD Photons sucrés
1st Place
High School Class Category
1st Place
High School Individual Category
2nd Place
High School Individual Category
1st Place
Open Category
2nd Place
Open Category
3rd Place
Open Category


2010 Winners -- (Honourable Mentions)
Magnetic Tree Reverberating Polysaccharide Interference of Water Waves Magnificent Sun and Moon Infrared Insanity Rustic Sunrise
1st Place
High School Class Category
2nd Place
High School Class Category
3rd Place
High School Class Category
1st Place
High School Individual Category
2nd Place
High School Individual Category
3rd Place
High School Individual Category


2009 Winners -- (No Honourable Mentions)
Quantified Loss Huge Mountains Like Tiny Bubbles "Horizontal" Icicles
1st Place
Open Category
2nd Place
Open Category
3rd Place
Open Category


2007-08 Winners -- (Honourable Mentions)
The Unfolding and Enfolding Universe A Flight Inspired by Gravity Sunset in a Bubble Film? Colourful Maze! The Bending of an Electron Beam Strumming in 'E'
1st Place
Open Category
2nd Place
Open Category
1st Place
High School/CEGEP Individual
2nd Place
High School/CEGEP Individual
3rd Place
High School/CEGEP
Individual
1st Place
High School/CEGEP
Class Category


2006 Winners -- (Honourable Mentions)
Standing Water ZAP ! Natural Fireworks Holographic Laser Tornado Amber Amperage
1st Place
High School/CEGEP Individual
2nd Place
High School/CEGEP Individual
3rd Place
High School/CEGEP
Individual
1st Place
High School/CEGEP
Class Category
2nd Place
High School/CEGEP
Class Category


2004-05 Winners -- (Honourable Mentions)
Flight in a Viscous Fluid Polarisation croisée Inverted Image - Converging Lens Tie-Dye TV Fg = Ma Splash! Ray Play
1st Place
Open Category
2nd Place
Open Category
1st Place
High School/CEGEP
Class Project
2nd Place
High School/CEGEP
Class Project
1st Place
High School/CEGEP
Individual
2nd Place
High School/CEGEP
Individual
3rd Place
High School/CEGEP
Individual


2003 Winners -- (Honourable Mentions)
Hand through flat soap bubble Surface Interface Dynamics: Methyl Benzene & Silicon Dioxide Vortex In A Sink Kaleidoscopic Bubbles Thin - Film Effect
1st Place
Open Category
2nd Place
Open Category
1st Place
High School/CEGEP Individual
1st Place
High School/CEGEP
Class Project
2nd Place
High School/CEGEP
Class Project


2002 Winners -- (Honourable Mentions)
Birefringence & Cameraless Photography Crystallization of Milk Fats The Frosted Forest Soap Bubble
1st Place
Open Category
2nd Place
Open Category
1st Place
High School/CEGEP
1st Place
High School/CEGEP
Class Project


2001 Winners -- (Honourable Mentions)
Pendulum Trajectory The Van der Graaff Kid Vortices in a Layered Fluid Walking on Water Reflection of Trees Off Water La Divergence
1st Place
Open Category
2nd Place
Open Category
3rd Place
Open Category
1st Place
High School/CEGEP
2nd Place
High School/CEGEP
3rd Place
High School/CEGEP


2000 Winners -- (Honourable Mentions)
Breaking Wave Structure Hole Formation in Supported Bilayer Polymer Films Freely-Standing Polymer Trilayer Films: DIC Image of Lateral Morphology
1st Place
Open Category
2nd Place
Open Category
3rd Place
Open Category


1996 Winners -- (Honourable Mentions)
Star Patterns "Fullerene Forest" in Northern Winter Icicle Arrays
1st Place
Open Category
2nd Place
Open Category
3rd Place
Open Category


1994 Winners -- (Honourable Mentions)
Vertigo Transmission Electron Microscopy of a Metal-matrix Composite Electron Tree
1st Place
Open Category
2nd Place
Open Category
3rd Place
Open Category


1993 Winners -- (Honourable Mentions)
Convection pattern in an annular "soap" film Solar Vision Parabolic Arcs Stuck
1st Place
Open Category
2nd Place
Open Category
3rd Place
Open Category
1st Place
High School/CEGEP

Winners and honourable mentions from these Art of Physics competitions became part of a travelling exhibition. You can view the honourable mentions for each year by selecting the honourable mention link beside each year's header. You can also get information on how you can book the Art of Physics travelling exhibition for showing at your institution.


Further information may be obtained by contacting: Francine Ford, Executive Director
Canadian Association of Physicists
555 King Edward Avenue, 3rd Floor,
Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 7N5
tel: 613-562-5614
fax: 613-562-5615
email: cap@uottawa.ca

We thank the University of Manitoba Physics Department for providing a home in cyberspace for these pages from 1993 to 2002.


Thank you for your interest in the Art of Physics.


Questions or comments regarding these pages may be sent to
info@cap.ca.