The 2023 edition of Quantum@School in Portuguese took place this Thursday 20 April 2023, in person at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and online for schools from mainland Portugal and islands, and from Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, and São Tomé & Príncipe, bringing together about 1700 portuguese-speaking students from 50 different schools.
Quantum@School is a worldwide initiative, in the scope of the World Quantum Day, aiming at connecting schools from all over the world in the understanding of Quantum Science and Technology, in the days and weeks around 14 April, the World Quantum Day.
The portuguese language joined this initiative through the organisation of the scientific lecture “Do desassossego de Einstein ao prémio Nobel da Física de 2022“, presented to schools in the 6 portuguese-speaking countries involved.
This event is an initiative of REQ – Network of Quantum Schools of PQI – Portuguese Quantum Institute, which in 2022 organized the first edition of Quantum@School in Portuguese, which at the time had the participation of more than 900 students, online and in person, from a total of 24 schools in Portugal, Brazil, Angola, and São Tomé & Príncipe.Yasser Omar, professor at Instituto Superior Técnico and president of PQI – Portuguese Quantum Institute, said:
“This event brought together 1700 students, over 50 teachers, 50 schools, 6 countries, 3 continents, and 2 oceans around the Portuguese language and the interest in Quantum Physics!
It exceeded all our expectations, practically doubling the numbers of the first edition of Quantum@School in Portuguese, in 2022.
We hope next year to add another ocean to the initiative and reach East Timor, despite the big time difference!
And also to have the participation of portuguese-speaking schools in portuguese-speaking countries and reach the communities of Portuguese emigrants around the world”.
This event was developed in the scope of the World Quantum Day, an initiative launched in 2022 by scientists from about 70 countries, and that this year included 400+ events in 5 continents.”
At the event, it was also announced that the Quantum@Video in Portuguese competition will be launched in May for secondary school students to make a short video about Quantum Physics. The submission deadline will be in October and the prize winners will be announced in December.