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18 October 2021
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Story Dr Nitha Ramnath
Our podcast guest
Prof Jeandrew Brink holds the post of Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Applied
Mathematics within the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of the Free State. Her areas of interest include an analytical interest in Einstein field equations, dynamical systems, algorithms for testing general relativity
and the no-hair theorems, black holes, and gravitational waves. Prof Brink registered for a Bachelor of Sciences in 1998, continued with honours studies in 1999, and completed her master’s degree in 2000. Prof Brink’s research is on various
theoretical aspects of testing general relativity. She is a member of the MeerKAT telescope team that times and detect pulsars. She is also working with members of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) to find ways of using
gravitational waves to test Einstein’s theory.
Prof Brink was involved in the compilation of a video of geodesic orbits around a Manko-Novikov singularity, selected to be part of a Starmus 3 concert, the proceeds of which went towards promoting the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication and
to support the charitable activities of the Stephen Hawking Foundation. It could also be part of a subsequent documentary.
Listen to the podcast at
François van Schalkwyk and Keenan Carelse,
UFS alumni leading the university’s United
Kingdom Alumni Chapter, have put their voices together to produce and direct the podcast series. Intended to reconnect alumni with the university and their university experience, the podcasts will be featured on the first Monday of every month,
ending in November 2021. Our featured alumni share and reflect on their experiences at the UFS, how it has shaped their lives, and relate why their ongoing association with the UFS is still relevant and important. The podcasts are authentic
conversations – they provide an opportunity for the university to understand and learn about the experiences of its alumni and to celebrate the diversity and touchpoints that unite them.
For further information regarding the podcast series, or to propose other alumni guests, please email us at
alumnipodcast@ufs.ac.za
For all Voices from the Free State podcasts,
click here.
Wayde sets 200m SA record, and is world’s fastest in 2017
2017-06-13
Wayde van Niekerk is in great form leading up to the World Championships
in London in August. Photo: SASPA
He was the first South African to break the 20-second barrier in the 200m, but for the past two years Wayde van Niekerk had to be satisfied that fellow countryman Anaso Jobodwana was quicker. Now the Kovsie athlete isn’t only the national record holder again – he also is the fastest man on the planet in the 200m in 2017.
After Van Niekerk ran a 19.90, the world’s fastest this year, when he won the South African title in Potchefstroom in April, the American Christian Coleman (19.85) improved on that.
Personal best and 0.06 seconds quicker than Anaso
However, Van Niekerk ran a 19.84 in the 200m at the Racers Grand Prix in Kingston, Jamaica, on 11 June 2017. This was 0.06 seconds quicker than his personal best, and 0.03 seconds better than Jobodwana’s national record of 19.87 at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing. Van Niekerk was the first South African to run under 20 seconds in the 200m when he did so two years ago in 19.97 in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Same pace a second time in a week
It was also the second time in a week that the 400m world record-holder ran an 19.84 in the 200m. This after he did it on a temporary built track at the Boost Boston Games on 4 June 2017. The race was run on a straight street course and was therefore not officially recognised as a record.
“This is definitely a positive step forward,” Van Niekerk said, according to www.iaaf.org. “I felt that I was in pretty good shape last week in Boston, I wanted to repeat that here (in Kingston).”
He seems to be in good shape leading up to his attempt to run a double, his favourite 400m and the 200m, at the World Championships in London, England, in August.