On Tuesday, 8 April, the final of the XX edition of the Physics Paths competition was held, which is organised annually jointly by the National Centre for Nuclear Research and the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. This year, the final competition was held at the premises of the Institute of Physics. The competition traditionally took place in three categories: scientific work, essay and demonstration of a physical phenomenon.

In total, the authors of 15 works (five works from each category) took part in the finals. After an all-day session of questioning the finalists and heated deliberations, the Jury, consisting of 27 people from prestigious universities and scientific institutions in Poland, selected the winners.

First place within the individual categories went to, respectively:

• scientific work: Joanna Wolińska i Anna Jędrzejowska, authors of th work „Modifications of the Ruchardt method for the determination of the adiabatic exponent”;

• essay: Maria Kalbarczyk, author of the work „Photon. In private”;

• demonstration of a physical phenomenon: Emil Pająk, author of the work „The phenomenon of quantum interlocking shown on a track with Möbius strip geometry”.

Detailed results are available on the competition website (fizycznesciezki.pl).

Prizes for the participants were funded, among others, by the Marshal of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship, the Starost of Otwock and the Mayor of Otwock. The entire competition was financed from the state budget as part of the “Social Responsibility of Science II” programme.

In addition to financial and material prizes, the winners also received "indexes" - a guarantee of admission to selected faculties at partner universities.

We congratulate all participants for their extraordinary level of commitment and breadth of knowledge!