2005 Media release

In celebrating Women's Month and in recognition of women's scientific achievements, the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA) is sharing women physicists' love of physics as a way of bringing the world of physics and the realisation of a possible career in physics a step closer.

Physics can be fun and is an essential part of everyday life. Across South Africa scientists and communicators are working towards inspiring a new generation of scientists as part of the International Year of Physics 2005, as declared by the United Nations.

Zinhle Buthelezi is a Physicist Researcher at iThemba Labs.

"Independently and as a member of a team I do new and original experimental investigations of an applied and basic nature. I also plan and set up experimental equipment and perform calculations with various sophisticated nuclear models, statistical and mathematical methods. Furthermore, I am involved in the development and training of young scientists and supervise nuclear physics postgraduates.

"South Africa has many remarkable physicists. Given opportunities, funding and support, the figures will go up. A recent report from an international reviewing committee has shown that the country has the necessary infrastructure, good laboratories as well as the expertise. This is a winning combination for a bright and promising future," she says.

Patricia Whitelock is an astronomer at the South African Astronomical Observatory. She has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of SA, a member of the Academy of Sciences of SA and an Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society in the UK.

"Research is the exciting side of being an astrophysicist. I am investigating stars that would once have been rather like our sun, but which are now nearing the ends of their lives. This is a very poorly understood phase of stellar evolution, but very important because it is by this process that much of the carbon in the universe, which is so important for life, is distributed and becomes available for the next generation of stars and planets.

"I am extremely fortunate to be paid for doing almost exactly the same job as I would do if I were extremely rich."

Whitelock says astronomy in particular has been identified as an area in which South Africa has strategic advantages.

"The government is therefore supporting it at a relatively high level. This is a visionary political move that makes a very powerful statement about how the country sees its future - as a world-class player. This is a good time and place to be a physicist, particularly an astrophysicist."

Delia Marshall is Associate Professor in the Physics Department of the University of the Western Cape. She received a National Research Foundation President's Award for promising young researchers in 2001. This award is made to young researchers who, according to their peers, have the potential to become world leaders in their field.

"I teach physics to undergraduate students and I enjoy the challenge of changing students' attitudes towards physics. My research in physics education looks at how university students learn physics and why many experience difficulties with learning physics."

Marshal says the future of physics in South Africa depends crucially on widening participation in the discipline to maximise the pool of talent, notably to attract more female and black students.

"The drop in students enrolling for physics is a worldwide problem. We need to learn from curriculum reforms elsewhere in the world that have succeeded to boost student enrolment levels, and to draw a more diverse range of students into physics. Students need to be made aware of the breadth of career opportunities that physics studies can open up."

Christine Steenkamp is a lecturer in Physics at the University of Stellenbosch. She received a Women in Science Fellowship from the Department of Science and Technology in 2003 that allowed her to spend six months at a research institute in the USA as a postdoctoral research associate.

"I do research in the field of laser physics. At the Laser Research Institute we use lasers to investigate the properties of different materials - from single gas molecules to crystals and fruit skins.

"Physics and physicists will be contributing much to the scientific and technological development in South Africa in the next decade and thereafter. Complementary to basic research in physics, there will probably be a move towards interdisciplinary research where principles of physics are applied in completely different fields of investigation such as biology or electronics," says Steenkamp.

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