Safe-cracking Win

A team of Sixth Form Physicists are the first all-girls team to win a national safe-cracking competition.

South Hampstead’s Pinball Wizards (Ailin, Eleanor, Ella and Ellen) are the first all-female team to win the Weizmann UK Physics tournament which took place via Zoom this year. Fifteen teams from ten UK schools took part in the ninth annual safe-cracking contest, including St Paul’s, Dulwich College and Westminster School.

Participating teams were tasked with designing a safe which could be cracked only by solving Physics problems and riddles. Each team had to be able to open their own safe in under 5 minutes but needed to keep their opponents stumped for at least 10 minutes.

The competition was judged by a panel of experts, who praised the Pinball Wizards for their originality and creativity. They faced challenging questions from the judges about the Physics behind their problems, which included an innovative thermopile design, which they answered confidently. The team has been working on their safe since the autumn term and have consistently worked well as a team, solving complex experimental Physics challenges along the way.

Our Director of STEM, Ms Russo, commented: “We are delighted to be the first all-girls’ school to win the competition. The students are superstars and shining examples of women in STEM.”