From plasma physics to hard coffee physics:
Young Dynasty Foundation laureates demonstrated an impressive variety of abilities

The annual conference Young Scientists of Russia of the Dmitri Zimin's Dynasty Foundation was held 16 April 2010.
As tradition demands, the foundation invited laureates of the previous year's young physicist competitions to Moscow—this time, the 2009 laureates.
More than 90 current and future scientists—college students, graduate students, candidates and doctors of science—gathered at the Molodezhnaya Hotel in Moscow. They were winners of the 2009 competitions, for which more than 400 applications were submitted.

First and foremost, a scientific program awaited the guests. By the invitation of the International Center for Fundamental Physics in Moscow, several doctor of science laureates gave lectures on the most relevant and long-range problems of theoretical physics for the conference participants.

Oleg Verkhodanov (Special Astrophysical Observatory, RAS, Nizhny Arkhyz) informed young scientists about discoveries and riddles of the relic radiation of the Universe.
Sergey Troitsky (Institute for Nuclear Research, RAS, Moscow) spoke about modern approaches to the opacity of the Universe.
Mikhail Gorodetsky (Moscow State University) spoke about the latest achievements in the area of optical mega- and microresonators. Sergey Tarasenko (Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, RAS, Saint Petersburg) spoke about photogalvanic phenomena in semiconductors without an inversion center.

After the scientific program, the laureates participated in an unusual scientific experiment “Gastrophysics or Per Gastro Ter Aspero.”

The goal of the experiment was to check physicists' abilities not only in science but also in areas where scientists, according to stereotype, are not strong.

Last year, the conference participants proved that they could build with their hands and were able to solve unusual problems. This time, the physicists tried a chef's role. The tasks—bordering physics and gastronomy—had a scientific implication. For example, two competing teams had to explain laws of physics using a four-course dinner, to demonstrate the role of different foods in famous physics discoveries, and to present traditional dishes in untraditional aggregate states.

The young experimenters handled the tasks successfully. The jury, composed of doctors of science, evaluated the NaCl crystal grating from dry pasta, grapes, and cherry tomatoes, a black hole model from an olive, and also a demonstration of Archimedes' principle using a regular okroshka soup. In the historical part of the experiment, an alternative view of rocket fuel creation by Tsiolkovsky turned out to be beyond competition. It expressed the idea of a carbonated drink bottle playing the most important role in the creation of the fuel. There were some untraditionally aggregated dishes that would astonish knowledgeable molecular cuisine experts: hard coffee, gaseous brine, a liquid pizza, an edible carrot fork, and a cucumber and radish spoon.

The experiment proved again that any achievements, including gastronomical, are possible for physicists.

At the closing award ceremony, all laureates received certificates in their own category (college student, graduate student, candidate or doctor of science category) confirming their scientific achievements.

In 2009, the stiffest competition was among candidates of science (82 applications were submitted for 12 Dynasty Foundation grants) and doctors of science (30 applications for 6 grants). Graduate students and scientists with only an undergraduate degree submitted 183 applications (40 grants were awarded in this category). In the college student category, 50 grants were awarded out of 132 applications submitted.
The Academic Council of the International Center for Fundamental Physics in Moscow makes grant award decisions for these competitions. Altogether, it reviewed 427 applications, 36 more than in 2008.

The 2009 laureates were from far and wide: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Dubna, Protvino, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Omsk, Tomsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Ekaterinburg, Voronezh, Rostov-on-Don, Vladivostok.