HWS News
26 April 2024 Innus '27 Wins Holland Physics Competition By Colin Spencer '19
Project explores connections between sciences.
Ainsley Innus ’27 recently won the 23rd annual Albert Holland Physics Lecture Competition for her presentation on applying Bernoulli’s equation for wind.
Five students competed in the event, judged by Associate Professor of Physics Leslie Hebb, Associate Professor of English Rob Carson and Assistant Professor of Chemistry Matthew Church ’14, who, as a student, participated in the competition in 2014. Professor of Physics Ted Allen served as the master of ceremonies.
During the competition, each student presented a 15-minute lecture in which some significant principle or application of physics is derived and explained; the lectures are judged on the rhetorical skill and effectiveness with which they are delivered.
A geoscience major from Lockport, N.Y., Innus presented on how concepts from her introductory physics courses, specifically forces and pressure, relate to how she’s learning about wind in geoscience. Bernoulli’s equation, which states that static pressure plus dynamic pressure equals total pressure, can be used to show the relationship between velocity, pressure and density, according to NASA.
“I wanted to show how different subjects in the sciences can intertwine and I thought this would be a neat opportunity to present,” says Innus.
The other participants were: Biruk Nardos ’25, a physics and computer science double major from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, who presented on “Spectral Lines of Stars”; Timur Piskiner ’24, a physics and philosophy double major from Istanbul, Turkey, who presented on “Conservation of Momentum”; James Sarver ’24, a physics and geoscience double majors from Ligonier, Penn., who presented on “Absorbing Knowledge: The Beer-Lambert Law of Absorption”; and Tate Tower ’24, a mathematics major from Redding, Conn., who presented on “Deriving the Euler-Lagrange Equation.”
The competition and prize were conceived and endowed by the late Professor Emeritus of Physics Allan M. Russell P’81, P’86 when he retired from the Physics Department after three decades of teaching. The purpose of the competition is to encourage and further the art of physics discourse and to memorialize former President Holland.
Albert Edward (Bert) Holland, B.A., M.A., LL.D. (1912-1984) served as HWS President from 1966 to 1968. He was known for his vision, honesty and integrity, and his remarkable skills in public presentation. He received a letter of commendation from the U.S. Government for employing those skills in helping to save those imprisoned with him in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines during World War II. As president, he was responsible for the establishment of Geneva Scholars Associates, which provides scholarship aid to students from the Geneva area.
Top: Ainsley Innus '27, James Sarver '24, Tate Tower '24, Timur Piskiner '24 and Biruk Nardos '25 pose after the 23rd annual Albert Holland Physics Lecture Competition.
