Physicist puts Papua in the map

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

What is the last thing you would expect a young woman to do in planning her future after winning a science olympiad?

Turn down an offer to study at Harvard University.

That was what Anike Nelce Bowaire, a winner of Poland's First Step to a Nobel Prize in Physics (FSNPP), did recently, saying she preferred to study at the country's state universities -- Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the University of Indonesia in Jakarta.

"I want to enroll at universities the same way as other Indonesians do ... through university entrance examinations," the 18-year-old said, adding that mentally, she was also not prepared to live far away from her parents.

"I don't want to be accepted at a university solely because I win a competition and I want to experience what other Indonesian college students have gone through -- a students' initiation and other unforgettable experiences as new students," she said.

These are the only things Anike has to think about because the graduate of State High School SMAN 1 Serui in Papua province will not have to dream up a way to finance her study.

Soon after Anike won the award, the Jakarta-based Freedom Institute granted her a full scholarship, from a bachelor's degree to doctorate at any university she liked.

Although she did not win any cash prize, she said the scholarship was suitable compensation for her efforts to be the best in science.

"Back in my high school, I could only study science by reading books," she said, adding that there was no way for her to carry out laboratory experiments at the poorly equipped institution.

"Yes, there was a lab there, but the room was used for teaching activities and all the lab equipment was stored on the shelves."

The daughter of Yohanes Bowaire and Yemima Woriori; both civil servants in Papua's regional administrations, said "guidance" was the key that allowed her to beat 78 other participants from 28 countries at the FSNPP.

"The difference between preparing myself in my high school and here in Jakarta is that I got proper guidance from mentors, who are some of the country's noted science professors."

Anike said the professors not only taught her how to master physics, math and English, they also taught her how to be original.

Order from chaos

"My mentors always highlighted that my research should be original, it should not came from previous studies already published," Anike said.

Due to this guidance and a systematic transfer of knowledge, Anike came up with a project called "Chaos in an Accelerated Rotating Horizontal Spring", which earned her a gold medal in at the competition in June.

"The idea is how to prove that horizontal spring movement can also be used to study chaos, a study of random motion," she said.

Some scientists said the finding, which they named the "Bowaire Model" could allow people to study earthquakes, human heartbeats, and soccer players' running styles along with other forms of chaotic movement.

"The study of chaos is widely applicative. It could be applied to water drops, weather forecasts and even share prices on stock exchanges. But I haven't taken my research that far."

Practice makes perfect, as the saying goes. And Anike's achievement did not come in an instant. She has spent about 16 hours a day during the past two years mastering the methodology and the practical experiments of chaos theory. It is unsurprising then, that with all this brain work, her hobbies are largely sedentary -- sleeping, listening to music and reading.

"No time for TV soap operas and no boyfriend," said the girl who also won the competition at the National Physics Olympiad in 2004 and a Special Prize at the International Conference for Young Scientists in Katowice, Poland, in May this year.

Yohanes Surya, one of Anike's mentors and the president of Indonesia Physics Olympiad Team said Anike's hard work and her potential meant she and other young Indonesians could become Nobel laureates in physics by 2020.

"The International Conference of Young Scientists (ICYS) held in Katowice is a prestigious contest for senior and junior high school students worldwide. I am proud that Anike and her friends won in such an internationally recognized competition. This shows Indonesia can play an important role in world-level scientific research and experiments," Yohannes said.

Besides hard work and brainpower, Anike's achievement also came from the courage to make a vital decision.

"Before participating for the First Step to a Noble Prize in Physics competition, I had to quit the International Physics Olympiad Team, which I had been a part of since 2003," Anike said.

"It was a tough decision. It still makes me dizzy."

She was also motivated by the news about her home province of Papua, which was mostly negative.

"After George Saa won the FSTNP in 2004, the news about Papua mainly concerned health problems and a feud about the implementation of regional autonomy. I want to put Papua in the headlines again, only this time with good news," she said.