Alexandra wins prestigious Oliphant Science Award

The Oliphant Science Awards is open to all South Australian school students. This year over 2900 students from more than 100 schools entered the competition.

“The presentation ceremony was held at the Brighton Secondary School Concert Hall. Only the prize winners, their families, teachers and some VIPs were invited. There were nine different categories and at least sixty prize winners,” said Alexandra Stephenson.

“I’ve never entered the science writing category before, so I was really excited to learn I’d won a prize. When I found out that I won first prize as well as a sponsor prize, I was even more excited!”

“I chose to research the physics behind solar cells (which are the component parts of solar panels), in part because I was interested in them and renewable energy is so important. Once I discovered more about their history I was even more fascinated, particularly by the first solar cells that went on the Voyager 1 satellite, which launched in March 1958 and was the size of a large grapefruit.”

“I first entered the Oliphant Science Awards in 2012, when I won a highly commended in the crystal investigations category for Years 3-5. I entered again in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Over these three years I won awards and sponsor prizes in the computer programming and robotics, photography and scientific inquiry categories. One of the sponsor prizes that I’m most proud of was the Australian Institute of Physics R-12 prize, for the best entry in the competition with a physics theme. But the best bit would have to have been winning the Oliphant Trophy in 2016 for the best entry in the entire competition, for my research project ‘Vibration damping in the cello by cello mutes.’ I was really excited about that prize!” said Alexandra.

Monica Oliphant, Alexandra Stephenson & Claire Flenley.

“The highlight of the Awards ceremony was having the opportunity to talk to Monica Oliphant, a physicist and the daughter-in-law of Sir Mark Oliphant. I first met her two years ago when I won the Oliphant Trophy, so it was lovely to see her again.”

The Oliphant Science Awards have been run annually since 1981 by the Science Teachers Association of South Australia (SASTA). It is named after patron of the awards Sir Mark Oliphant, a famous South Australian physicist.

Sir Mark was always a champion of the peaceful uses of atomic energy. In 1937, he accepted his first professorship as head of the Physics Department at Birmingham University where he was to continue to push the boundaries of knowledge of nuclear physics. That year, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He founded the Research School of Physical Sciences at the Australian National University in Canberra, and was Governor of South Australia.

Sir Mark’s legacy will live on in many ways, not least through the thousands of students and teachers who participate in these awards annually. Of special significance is that Sir Mark, through his love of tinkering and invention, made the perpetual Oliphant Trophy himself.