{"id":23011,"date":"2018-03-05T19:04:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-05T18:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.zdv.uni-mainz.de\/fb08-prisma\/2018\/03\/05\/so-wurden-physiker-der-mainzer-universitaet-zu-quiz-helden-im-suedwesten\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T10:06:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T09:06:39","slug":"so-wurden-physiker-der-mainzer-universitaet-zu-quiz-helden-im-suedwesten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prisma.uni-mainz.de\/en\/2018\/03\/05\/so-wurden-physiker-der-mainzer-universitaet-zu-quiz-helden-im-suedwesten\/","title":{"rendered":"Physicists from Mainz University Become Quiz Heroes in the Southwest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/jgu-base-pageheader>\n
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Mainz, 5th March 2018\u2014After 45 minutes of excitement, tension, lightning-fast buzzer-pushing, and teamwork, Karl Geib and Dr. Christian Schneider left the SWR studio in Baden-Baden with a feeling of satisfaction. They had won 2,000 EUR against the competing team and become \u201cQuiz-Helden\u201d (Quiz Heroes). In their \u201creal lives\u201d, Geib and Schneider spend much of their time working together in the Institute for Physics workshop. Schneider, who is responsible for scientific communication and school projects in the PRISMA Cluster of Excellence, and his engineer colleague Geib regularly create experiments for schoolchildren and build machines for exhibition at the Mainz Science Market. It was this kind of public event that drew the attention of SWR last summer. In June 2017, the two physicists and a team of helpers and schoolchildren set a Guinness World Record\u2122 for the longest magnetic ball accelerator. They were promptly contacted by SWR and invited to take part in the quiz show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought it was cool; I\u2019d never been on a quiz show,\u201d says Schneider, laughing. But the way onto the show wasn\u2019t actually that easy. After a telephone casting session, there was a second casting round by the show\u2019s production company last fall before the long-awaited invitation actually came. \u201cIt was a full and interesting day,\u201d Geib says about the filming process. \u201cRehearsal, make-up, you even have to plan every footstep so you don\u2019t accidentally walk into the shot.\u201d It\u2019s no wonder that the two scientists don\u2019t feel as comfortable in a television studio as in their university workshop, but there was no sign of nervousness by the time filming started. \u201cAt the beginning, there were a few questions where I thought, \u2018oh dear, we aren\u2019t going to get this one,\u2019\u201d Schneider admits. A question about a quote from the first President to the military, for example. \u201cWe picked a really funny answer\u2014but the correct one was something else.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with their ball accelerator, small difficulties at the beginning failed to throw off the team. They stayed neck-and-neck with their opponents for the duration of the quiz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t just physics knowledge that made Schneider and Geib successful in the end\u2014they also relied on quick reflexes and gut feeling. In the last round against the three prominent opponents, they couldn\u2019t let their nerves get in the way. At the end of the day, Christian Schneider and Karl Geib took 2,000 euros home with them, and their jubilation at the end of the tense game was clear to see. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/jgu-base-section>

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