On Friday, April 13, the country’s top Science Slam winners came from all four corners of Austria to Heldenplatz in Vienna. In front of an audience of 900, the finalists held a six-minute presentation about their research on stage. Günter Auzinger from Linz and the JKU Linz was crowned this year’s Science Slam champion. Using home appliances and a dance performance, he demonstrated how to ‘bend light’ and optimize exoplanet imaging by using an adaptive optics system found in large telescopes. This could even help to one day prove the existence of extraterrestrial life.

The next event for the mathematician will be the European Science Slam Finale in Toulouse. Auzinger will represent Austria.

A video from the finale will be available here shortly.