I first joined the Board of the Finnish Physical Society at the Annual General Meeting in March of 2020 in Helsinki as the Secretary. Two years later I was fortunate to be elected as the Vice President to President Matti Silveri during the online Physics Days from Aalto. Then in 2023 in Tampere, and again in 2024 in Helsinki, I received the greatest honour of being elected President of the Finnish Physical Society. As my term comes to a close, I write to reflect on the past few years.
First, I would like to thank a few people out of many. Emilia Kilpua, for initially approaching me in 2020 to ask if I would be interested in joining the Board. Matti Ala-Lahti, for enduring endless requests for translation assistance despite not being involved. My predecessor, Matti Silveri, for always being available to answer my questions. And my fellow volunteers who have helped me to keep things running.
It has involved a significant amount of work, however, it has been an extremely rewarding way to serve the physics community. Awarding the thesis and presentation prizes at Physics Days has been a particular highlight. We should encourage early-career researchers wherever possible. I also had the pleasure of coordinating and hosting the visit of Prof. L’Huillier to Helsinki in 2024 (full details here ja tässä). I got to see the enthusiasm from the students during her talk at the French-Finnish School in Helsinki first-hand with an endless sea of questions, and to hear the teachers noting how the younger students were asking if she would be back next year for them too.
I was also able to represent the Society and Finnish physics internationally, primarily through our membership of the European Physical Society, and our dual role as the Finnish Liaison Committee to the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. This resulted in the signing of our first international agreement with the Korean Physical Society (see details here ja tässä).
I would like to think that I had a positive impact on the Society. While there are things that I was unable to complete in time, such as the revitalisation of our Divisions and Working Groups, the first steps have been taken and I know the work will continue under the leadership of my successor.
We switched from ad-hoc digital systems to a Google Workspace, allowing us to make the administrative side of the Society more efficient. We moved funds to an interest savings account for the first time to help secure the financial longevity of the Society. We shifted from a decline in membership to an increase in active members for the past two years. And we also placed a renewed focus on the Finnish language after the Society increasingly leaned towards English. All of our emails are now sent in both English and Finnish, and new additions to the website are also bilingual. This included taking the initial steps to found a Division of Finnish Physics Vocabulary, which I hope will be constituted fully later this year.
Additionally, the President traditionally offers closing words at our annual Physics Days conference. I took that opportunity to shed light on matters that I considered important to our community. In 2023 this was the necessity of outreach and science communication to ensure the science isn’t ignored by governments or the public, and in 2024 the essential nature of diversity and inclusion in physics. I will use my last words as President to reiterate these points and to implore the community to resist any attempt to roll-back progress on these fronts.
Kiitoksia,
Daniel Price
President of the Finnish Physical Society
